


The Secret Demon

by sasi9870



Category: Bleach
Genre: Explicit Language, F/M, Gen, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-22
Updated: 2013-08-13
Packaged: 2017-11-19 06:33:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 75,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/570260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasi9870/pseuds/sasi9870
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Byauya must deal with a new and enigmatic recruit in the 6th squad. Otori Kaya is extremely rude, very bad mannered and absolutly refuse to call people by anything but their first name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What?

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: I own nothing. Kubo Tite made bleach.  
> Thanks to my beta reader - peanutbutterthedog

"What?" Byakuya was all but gaping at Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, head-captain of the gotei 13. the old man opened one eye to stare at the captain of squad 6.

"I said that the new recruit from the academy, who will be joining the 6th squad, shows a great potential. Therefor I wish you to take her under your wing and train her." he said slowly and clearly.

Only years of practice in hiding his emotions and great respect to the elder captain prevented Byakuya from scowling. he barely heard the last words, his ears were ringing with indignity.

"I heard what you said head captain, I just fail to understand why am I being requested to train a new recruit?" he said quietly.

Yamamoto looked at Byakuya for a second as if considering his answer carefully, and then said in a business like tone:

"The other captains have taken proteges, I don't see why you shouldn't.".

Now Byakuya was frowning, "I don't want nor do I need a protege.".

it was only part true. five of the captains had indeed taken talented shinigami from their squad to polish and hone their skills hoping that they may finally find a suitable candidates for the 3 empty captains seats.

"Well the matter has already been decided. You haven't even met her, don't be so rush to reject the matter." Yamamoto's tone was final.

Byakuya raised an eyebrow "What? He is a she?" he said, slightly surprised.

"Yes indeed. You are dismissed." said Yamamoto and discharged the captains meeting.

All the captains left the meeting room muttering about the news. all except Byakuya.

"One more thing Byakuya." the head captain called after the other captains left.

"She has a little eh.. Authority problem. But I'm sure you can put her on the right tracks."

Byakuya went back to his office to finish some more paperwork. He also had to consider which members from his squad to send to the 80th rukongai special patrol team. lately there have been reports of numerous murders in the zaraki district. He wasn't sure if "murder" was the right word to describe what happened in the far districts. People killing each other was a matter of routine in those godforsaken places. It was the job of the shinigami, among others, to stop and prevent such incidents, but the sad truth was that seireitei barely knew or cared what happened in the farther rukongai. Patrols were sent regularly to each and every of the 320 districts, but it was merely a symbolic effort. Byakuya knew, as well as the other captains, that teams sent to the farther rukongai usually spent their time drinking, gambling and even taking advantage of the poor women who managed somehow to survive in the harsh conditions. Of course not a single woman ever charged a shinigami with the offense of rape or abuse, either because she was threatened with death or simply because no one would listen to a filthy woman from the lowest level of soul society.

Byakuya settled to his paperwork when Renji raised his head from a blank peace of "paperwork" and asked how was the captains meeting. Byakuya told him shortly about the deaths in the 80th district and the rest of the meeting.

When he got to the part about his "protege" Renji said, "Well that will be interesting.." quietly, but Byakuya payed it no attention. Anything other then paperwork would be considered "interesting" by his lieutenant. he was slightly surprised that Renji didn't ask to be sent with the special patrol team, but didn't say anything. He wasn't going to send his lieutenant on a pointless patrol, even if the alternative was that Renji stayed here and play hanged man with himself instead of doing his paperwork.

Only on his way home he found time to consider the matter of his new squad member.

'Authority problem?' Byakuya thought, recalling the old man's last words.

He was walking along his manor corridor and not even noticing the small figure of his adopted sister waiting for him at the entrance to the dining room. He thought he heard a servant saying something about Rukia but was still deep in thoughts about the captains meeting to actually hear.

He snapped back to earth only when she said cheerfully "Welcome home nii sama, how was your day?".

"Disturbing". was his quiet answer and as they entered together and set at the low table he added "What brings you here?".

Lately Rukia preferred staying in the barracks even thou she had a room in the big, cold, empty manor. A servant began placing food on the table in front of them.

"Nothing in peculiar. Disturbing you say?" Rukia said, "Why? What happened?".

Byakuya didn't answer for a moment, chowing some food.

"I was burdened with... an unwanted responsibility." was his answer.

Rukia looked puzzled "Unwanted- oh you mean Kaya?".

"What?" Byakuya looked confused. Rukia added:

"Otori Kaya, the new recruit in your squad, I heard she is going to be training under you.".

Byakuya looked surprised, not only that she knew his new protege's name before him, but that she knew he had new recruit at all.

"What... Did you hear?" he asked frowning slightly. He didn't approve of gossiping, and especially when it concerned him.

'Did the irritating Female Shinigami Society catch wind of the news already?' he thought.

Rukia shrunk a little but said:

"She told me she was assigned to your squad and would train with you. I know her you see. We met one day I was on an errand in the academy, and we've been seeing each other ever since. Renji know her too." she added.

Byakuya felt a stub of annoyance "Does he? He failed to mention that...".

Rukia bit back a replay saying that Byakuya probably failed to ask Renji and said instead:

"Well everyone's talking about it. I.. Hope you'll get along..." her face falling slightly.

Byakuya didn't miss that last gesture and said "What do you mean? She is just a new subordinate, I never failed to get along with any of my subordinates.".

He thought of Renji for a moment but dismissed that thought immediately. If he had troubles with one of his subordinates he would get rid of them, or the subordinate.

Rukia blushed a bit "Well err... I don't think you ever met someone like Kaya. I'm pretty amazed that they put her in your squad actually, and your trainee as well".

Now Byakuya was interested. He placed his chopsticks on the table and looked at Rukia, examining her face.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He had said the word "what" to many times today. Byakuya fixed his adopted sister with a gaze that told her to divulge anything she knew about his new recruit, Otori Kaya. Rukia flushed pink again and said stuttering a bit:

"Well err.. She is eh-hmm kinda rude, I mean she curse a lot-" but Byakuya cut her:

"Renji curse and my ears didn't fall yet." he said, slightly annoyed at her thinking him so sensitive. True, he hated when people trashed their mouth, but everyone let slip a curse here and there, even in the noble houses.

"Well she is worse then Renji," Rukia continued "and sh-she is emm... very straightforward." now Rukia's face was red like a tomato.

"She hate taking orders and likes to challenge anyone who pisses her off." she let out a small chuckle.

"From what I heard, she almost challenged the head captain when he told her she wouldn't be assigned to the my squad.".

Byakuya wasn't sure if that last bit was true or not and was about to say the-word-he-said-way-to-many-times-in-one-day, but stopped himself. He would learn his protege's true nature tomorrow.

Byakuya got to his office a little before 8 the next day. The new recruit, Otori Kaya, was suppose to report in on 9, so he wanted to finish at least some of the mountain of paperwork which seemed to breed uncontrollably like rabbits every night.

When his lieutenant entered, half an hour late, he greeted his captain and started doing some of his own paperwork.

Renji was surprised to hear his name few minutes later.

"You failed to mention you know our new recruit, Renji." Byakuya said, not looking away from his papers. Byakuya kept the annoyance in his voice to the minimum, but Renji was too familiar with his captain to miss it.

"Well I thought er... We only met a few times... I don really know her, we are more of an acquaintances, captain." he said carefully, glad that his captain didn't look at him. If Byakuya had looked up, he would see a slightly red faced Renji. He would also be able to see thru his lieutenant's lie.

Byakuya made a tiny noise of impatience "Acquaintances.. hmm that is a very long word for you, Renji." he said quietly.

Renji flushed a bit but said no more. If he didn't know Byakuya, he might have taken offense from these words. Then it occurred to him that maybe Byakuya was nervous about meeting Kaya. But Renji knew his captain very well, and wasn't sure if he has ever been nervous. He wasn't even sure he had the muscles in his face to create a nervous expression. Fighting an urge to laugh Renji got back to his paperwork. At 9:30 Byakuya looked up.

"You have something in common, Renji, you both lack punctuality." he said.

Renji didn't answer. Saying Kaya lacked punctuality would be an understatement. She had no punctuality at all. The number of times he and Rukia set at the bar waiting for her to show up... But he thought, maybe on her first day in the squad she would have the brains to turn up in time.

At 10:20 both Byakuya and Renji stared up from the paperwork. Renji slightly before Byakuya because after 10:00 he only pretended to do his paperwork and instead played Tic-tac-toe against himself. The reason they stared up was the reiatsu which entered the 6th squad HQ.

Renji slapped himself quietly without Byakuya noticing.

'That dumbass!' he thought to himself 'Still walking around with her reiatsu up like a beacon to any would-be challenger in 3 miles.'.

Renji and Byakuya stared at the door for a minute and Renji pleaded with himself, willing her to hear him somehow 'Please, oh please just don't-' SNAP, the door swung open 'charge in without knocking.' Renji finished his prey in vain, almost sighing loudly.

"Oi, you must be Byakuya!" said a loud voice.


	2. Enter - Otori Kaya

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> disclaimer: I own nothing. Kubo Tite made bleach.

chapter 2 - Enter! Otori Kaya

Byakuya was so shocked that he couldn't even replay.

"Ah Renji your here too. wassup pineapple? Didn't see your ass back there." said a girl walking in and waving at Renji who stared at her with his mouth open.

She was only slightly taller then Rukia, with broad shoulders for a girl. Her light brown hair was sort of spiky and short but still fell over her face and ears, not unlike Kurosaki Ichigo's but a little longer. Her green eyes showed nothing but insolence as she scanned the office quickly. By the faint muttering outside the office, Byakuya could tell half the squad came to see who the outrageous reiatsu belonged to.

"Out." he said finally.

Both Renji and Kaya stared a him.

"Huh?" blurted Kaya almost snorting, looking at the captain as if he was a shop clerk who asked her a preposterous price for a bowl of noodles.

Renji thought 'Well, it could have been a lot worse, she's still alive...'.

Byakuya took a deep breath and said "Get out and close the door. Then knock and enter only after I approve." in a low voice.

Kaya tilted her head to one side, muttered "Wha?" and raised her right hand to stroke the hilt of her zanpakto which rested in her sash but behind her back.

Renji felt cold sweat running down his spine. He got up quickly, mumbling "Its ok captain ill close the door.", doing his best not to run out of the office, and then shut the door behind him and shooed all the onlookers. Byakuya took another deep breath and tried to start again.

"Who are you?" he asked quietly. The girl raised her hand from the zanpakto to scratched her ear and said:

"Huh? I'm the new recruit dumbass." before she let out the last syllable Byakuya flash stepped so close to her and leaned in slightly so that his hair almost touched her face.

"Do you know who you are talking to, little brat?" he said the faintest trace of anger in his voice. The girl did not step back, which kind of annoyed Byakuya. she said:

"Course I know, your Rukia's bro, Byakuya".

Byakuya decided to let her impudence drop for now, she will soon learn how to talk properly. "Its captain Kuchiki for you, and I have failed to hear your name." he said thinking that he shouldn't be offended by this brat's (probably came from the farthest filthiest rukongai) altitude.

"Ill think about the captain crap. I'm Otori Kaya. Genryusai jisan said ill be training under you. So where is the bloody training ground here?" Kaya said with a slight impatience in her voice.

Byakuya ignored the spark of annoyance at her referring to the captain commander of the gotei 13 so disrespectfully. Then it came to him that the old man probably sent that bad-mouthed brat to him in hope he would teach her some manners. Slightly annoyed that he had to deal with such insignificant matters he said in his usually calm tone:

"As it is your first day in this squad as well as a shinigami, ill have someone show you the headquarters and explain-" but the girl jumped back clenching her fists and said loudly:

"I'm not here to listen to this cocksucking trash! I'm here to get stronger and become captain and kick any jackass who looks down on me and-"

But Byakuya stopped her with a burst of his reiatsu which brought her to her knees.

"The day someone like you becomes a captain will be a very sad day to the gotei 13. Mind you we have Zaraki Kenpachi but-" Byakuya stopped, amazed, to see her draw her zanpakto (which was pretty short) and, holding it backward, lung at him.

He stopped her easily by grabbing her wrist and looked straight into her eyes, not betraying a shred of the anger he felt. Kaya, however was not as successful in hiding her anger.

"I'm going to make you eat those words!" she bellowed at him.

Removing her offending hand (which surprisingly still held the zanpakto) from his face Byakuya said:

"That's laughable.".

Maybe it was his casual tone and maybe it was the fact that he brushed her attack so effortlessly, but the girl in front of him seemed to get even angrier.

"Don't underestimate me, noble-ass! Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean i cant-" but what exactly she thought she could do to him, Byakuya never found out. Unlike her, he didn't fail to notice the masked reiatsu nearing his office. He raised his eyes to the door only a second before the captain of squad 4 entered, followed by a slightly breathless Renji.

Only when Byakuya shifted his gaze from her and said quietly "Good morning, captain Unohana" did Kaya notice Unohana Retsu at the door.

She tried to turn around but the 'noble-ass' still held her wrist in a rather painful grip, so she said over her shoulder "Good morning Retsu san!"

Byakuya was again amazed at her insolence in addressing the captain by her first name.

Unohana smiled and said:

"Good morning, captain Kuchiki, Kaya. Whats all the commotion? With all this reiatsu one might think there's a hollow invasion in the middle of the 6th squad.".

Again Kaya tried to pull her hand from Byakuya's grip and this time he let go of her, making her stumble ungracefully. With her back to him, Byakuya noticed a small pouch attached to the back of her sash. From the faint metallic clinking he heard when she fell he assumed it held a few weapons. She got up, scratching her ear again, and said:

"Nothing, Byakuya just refused my challenge so i thought ill scare him a bit with my amazing reiatsu." smiling childishly.

Behind Unohana, Renji's face took on a delicate shade of green. Unohana kept smiling and said:

"Now now Kaya, you shouldn't barge in on your very first day and challenge everyone. Especially not your captain. And captain Kuchiki, you should know better then to let your emotions run away with you.".

Byakuya ignored the ridiculous claim that he could not control his emotions and starred at the 4th squad captain.

'What is she doing here? Why did Renji called her out of all people? And why did my lieutenant think I cant handle a simple mater of rude insubordination.'.

The girl didn't seem to fully understand the meaning of such a long sentence because she rounded on him and said, pointing at him "You're not running away! Were going to fight, jacka-" but Unohaha cut her mid-sentence:

"Kaya, I'm sure if you just asked captain Kuchiki politely, he wouldn't mind a little spar with you." she smiled at Byakuya and continued "Would you, captain Kuchiki? after all, the head captain picked you as her instructor.".

Byakuya arrived at the conclusion that it would be useless to try and argue with the 4th squad captain. he also realize that there were some crucial things about his new squad member that he didn't know while everyone else seemed to know. He decided to play along for the time being. At any rate, the foul-mouthed brat had to pay for her lack of respect.

"Very well." he said.

Few minutes later they were at the 6th squad's training grounds. There were only few people there, except Renji and Unohana, but Byakuya knew it was only a matter of time until the news spread that the captain of squad 6 was going to fight the new squad member. Only when they took their places about 10 meters apart, did the absurdity of this situation dawned on him. The brat was literally skipping all the way to the training ground.

'Is she stupid?' he thought 'Did she not understand the amount of power and skill possessed by those few who wore the white haori?' he began to think that maybe the girl was mentally disabled when a loud voice called "Oi stop dozing off jackass! And draw your zanpakto!".

He looked at her and saw she was standing in a side stance, slightly crouched, with her right hand open palmed towards him, and left hand holding the short zanpakto backward behind her. She remained him irresistibly of Yoruichi, especially with that cocky grin on her face.

'Zanpakto in left hand?' he thought, trying to remember in which hand she held it in his office.

He made a little impatient noise and said "Draw my zanpakto? I see no reason to use it against the likes of you.".

The girl clenched her teeth, her reiatsu flowing from her in angry pulses, and said

"Don't underestimate me, jackass! And add those words to the list I'm going to make you eat!".

Then she lunged at him, slashing with her zanpakto. He dodged easily, expecting to see her stumble to the floor again, but then she aimed a rolling back kick at him and after missing again sent a horizontal kick.

While dodging her attacks, Byakuya thought how best to end this bothersome fight. Then he realize that he was going to be instructing her. He is going to be her master, and she his student. How absurd. The report about her said she graduated after only 3 months in the academy (which is a ridiculously short time) , was very acompliced in hand to hand combat, as well as using the katana, probably trained before entering the academy. She had a large amount of reiatsu compared to her class mates however her ability to control it was lacking.

'The report didn't mentioned that the ability to control her mouth was also lacking'.

The report also stated that she arrived at the academy with materialized zanpakto, thou she never released it. Byakuya truly doubted that part of the report as people who materialized their zanpakto before entering the academy were very rare, and this ignorant brat cant possibly be one of them. He put aside what he read in the report and started assessing her abilities on his own. She used mainly hakuda, hand to hand combat, and occasionally her zanpakto, which might explain why she held it left handed. She was highly agile and had a very good balance. Every time she missed with an attack, which happened quiet a lot, she imminently regained her ground, even where some people might stagger and fall, and went back to the offense. She didn't fall, like she did in his office and seeing her ability to regain her balance so masterfully, he didn't understand how come she fell back then. and she was fast. not fast enough to match him of course, but faster then the average shinigami and possibly some of the seated officers.

But she didn't use kido. Her reiatsu poured out of her like magma from an erupting volcano, but she didn't seem to realize or care. By now the crowd got bigger around the training ground, including the captains and lieutenants of squads 8, 10 and 13. Byakuya was slightly annoyed, didn't they have better things to do then watch him babysit this annoying girl? He decided its time to end this "training". As the girl aimed a punch at him, slightly panting, he faced her and this time didn't dodge. He stopped her punch with his open palm and when she made to hit with her zanpakto he caught her wrist and twisted it.

As the wakizashi fell to the ground he said:

"Is that all? why don't you show me something else?" he released her, flash stepped to the top of the far wall drawing his zanpakto and said "Scatter". all the onlookers gasped, but before Byakuya said the name of his zanpakto and released it the girl raised her hand, palm open,and said "hado 31 shokakui!".

There was a moment's pressure of reiatsu as she spoke, but nothing happened. 20 seconds passed by silently. Byakuya stood, mouth slightly open, not sure if what just happened (or rather didn't happen) was to be categorized as "hilarious" or "pathetic".

He decided on the latter as the girl said

"Or maybe it was soketsu.. No wait that's number 32, or was it 33..." she scratched her ear, still mumbling to herself.

Finally it was the 10th squad lieutenant, Matsumoto Rangiku, who broke the silence. she burst out laughing herself to tears and soon half the crowd was laughing as well.

"Hey pull yourself together" said Hitsugaya Toshiro, who didn't crack a smile, to his lieutenant.

Kaya picked her zanpakto and said "Whats so funny monkey-tits! Come here and ill kick your ass back to the last century!".

Then made a step towards the still laughing Rangiku when Byakuya appeared at her side and said "Enough" catching her shoulder. He was only slightly surprised to feel the hard muscles underneath the shihakusho, after all, she was obviously in a very good shape.

"Alright show's over. Go about your daily business everyone." said Kyoraku Shunsui, captain of the 8th squad, as he and the 13th squad's captain, Ukitake Jushiro, started shooing the crowd. Toshiro had to scrape his lieutenant from the floor, but finally everyone left.

Only when the echoing laugh of Rangiku disappeared Byakuya lifted his hand from Kaya's shoulder and said "Hado 31 is shakkaho, and sokatsui is 33. I suggest you use the incantation next time, it will be a lot easier to control the kido.".

There was not a shred of tease in his voice, but the girl seemed to take great offense from these words.

She sheathed her sword, crossed her hands and said "Oh yeah? well fuck that, I'm not using incantations! its way to much to remember!" turning her back to him.


	3. Lets Try This Again

Byakuya was seized by a powerful urge to slap her hard on the face but ignored it.

'This brat is now my responsibility' he thought miserably 'obviously she have a lot to learn, otherwise I wouldn't be in this ridicules situation'.

It then occurred to him that perhaps the reason why she graduated from the academy after such a preposterous short time was not necessarily because of her talent. He shuddered to think how she treated the teachers in the academy if that's how she talked to him, Kuchiki Byakuya, captain of squad 6, head of one of the four noble houses and her master. Thou he wasn't sure she was aware of the last one, "Genryusai jisan" probably left the difficult task of actually explaining to the girl what her status was and anything regarding her role as a shinigami to her new "master". Again visited by an urge to slap her for daring to show him her back, Byakuya noticed a thin faint scar on he neck, almost invisible. He decided that this girl's rude attitude was probably the result of a very rough life in a very far rukongai.

"Come." he said eventually, starting to leave the training ground "Ill show you the barracks.".

He thought she would have something to say, maybe argue that she "didn't have time for this kind of %* #~]^&=*%{0 !#$&". But she didn't say anything and followed him quietly. She seemed to be deep in thoughts, or maybe she felt too humiliated by her performance at the training ground to talk. Byakuya was starting to think he should probably feel sorry for the poor girl, but when he showed her the living quarters of squad 6 members she said "I'm not living in this pig's hole! I've got my own place!" very loudly.

Someone who's window was open heard her and popped his very messy green-haired head out angrily, shouting "Hey little bi-"

but then saw the girl who probably insulted his home, accompanied by non other then his captain. He flushed and said very quickly "Good morning captain! Sorry captain! I mean i was just picking something up captain! Ill just go back to work captain!" and shut the window.

"Sakurai Ryo... I fail to understand what a slacker like him is still doing in my squad." Byakuya muttered to himself.

Kaya shifted her eyes from the now closed window of the green-haired Ryo and said with a sly grin "You don't like slackers? well then I probably wont stay long in your carpetmuncher squad. I hope Genryusai jisan will put me in Rukia's squad..." she scratched her ear distractedly.

Byakuya stared at her "carpet..muncher?" he muttered, 'It would seem that cursing is part of her speech, she is probably doing it unconsciously.' he thought.

She looked at him, eyebrow raised, and said "Assbanger? Cockknoker? Faggit? GAY for fucking sake!" she seemed bewildered that he didn't know those words.

It took Byakuya a few seconds to realize that all those foul words meant the same thing, and were, in fact, directed at his squad.

He considered for a moment and then took hold of her hand, and before she could say another curse started flash stepping towards the edge of seireitei. He stopped only when they were far away from any populated place.

"Oi whats the fucking ide-" Kaya blurted out but Byakuya held her infront of him and then, after making sure there was not a soul around, released a part of his greatly surpassed reiatsu. it was slightly more then he released back in his office. It wasn't meant to hurt, only to shock, so that he could string a few words without her bursting in cursing her lungs out. He released only enough reiatsu to make here vision slightly blur and her body heavy so that she wouldn't make another foolish attempt to hit him.

he saw her go limp and sink to her knees again, but he still held her by the wrist so she reminded half suspended in midair with just the tips of her toes touching the ground. she looked up at him, sweat covering her face, her green eyes slightly dazed unable to focus on his gray ones.

"lets start again" Byakuya said quietly "For the time being ill ignore your being late by more then an hour. ill ignore you bursting into my office without even knocking. ill even ignore your dirty mouth. I cant, however, ignore your lack of respect or the fact that you drew your zanpakto and attempted an attack against your captain".

He made a little pause, in which Kaya tried to swallow the huge lump in her throat, and then continued.

"I will put those matters aside for now, so that we can start anew." his tone was not threatening, but very calm and emotionless.

Yet Kaya still had to struggle against the suffocating spiritual pressure he was releasing in order to stay conscious. It wasn't a murderous pressure, like she sometimes felt from him, but still a horrifyingly powerful pressure.

"I am Kuchiki Byakuya, 28th head of the Kuchiki clan, captain of squad 6 of the gotei 13 and your master from this day on."

He noticed a tiny twitch between her eyebrows when he declared the last title, but didnt say anything, maybe

because he was still holding her with his reiatsu.

He lowered his pressure slightly so she could talk and said "And you are?" keeping a grip on her wrist because she didn't make any attempt to stand on her own.

She finally managed to look him in the eyes and said weakly:

"Otori Kaya from the 80th rukongai, don't have any titles yet but I'm gonna become a captain" and then added "and you are NOT my master you royal s-".

But before she managed to utter another word, which Byakuya was sure about to be a foul one, she was again overwhelmed by a suffocating mass of reiatsu.

'The 80th district? well that explains a lot. the only thing it does not explain is how come this girl is standing here, alive' Byakuya thought, and as he did so, his eyes glimpsed the arm he was still holding upward, which was partly exposed, her sleeve dropping on her shoulder. her arm was delicately muscular, but what caught his eye was another thin scar on the upper arm like the one on her shoulder.

he looked back to her eyes, which looked slightly tired by now from having to withstand his reiatsu for such a long time.

But he didn't release the pressure. he still had things to say and was sure that the girl would regain her speech long before the ability to move. so he continued as if he didn't hear the last part.

"Following your premature graduation from the academy, the head captain has decided, for reasons known only to him, that you be placed in the 6th squad and trained personally by me. I assure you that I'm not content with the arrangement, but I intend to follow the orders given to me. You, on the other hand, should be grateful for the honor bestowed upon you. I expect you to arrive on time, refrain from using foul language, fulfill your duties as shinigami, obey the rules of soul society and show me proper respect as my noble title demands as well as your captain and master. I expect you to report in at 8 o'clock tomorrow and show proper manners.".

With that he lifted the pressure completely, released her hand letting her fall to her knees, turned from her and took a few steps away from her before turning again to face her. he stepped away to prevent any silly attempt to attack him again with the simple reason that she wouldn't have enough strength to cross the distance between them. she had already committed the crime of attacking a captain back in his office, and although he did not intended to report this serious offense to the central 46 or indeed to anyone at all, his disapproval of breaking the laws should now extend to her too as his pupil. she did not move from the moment he released her, sitting on her hills with her head slightly bowed. she was panting hard now and her hair stuck to her sweaty face.

Byakuya regarded her for a moment and said "Nothing to say, brat?".

there was silence for a while and then Kaya said quietly, still not raising her head "I became a shinigami to get stronger. If to get stronger means I have to train with you then ill do it".

she looked up at him with great difficulty "And respect... is something earned, Byakuya"

and with this she lost consciousness.


	4. Release

Rukia made her way to Kaya's apartment. Byakuya popped up in the middle of the day and asked her where Kaya was living. After she told him and tried to ask why was he asking he ignored her question and requested that Rukia visit Kaya later that day and disappeared. Rukia kept wondering what was that about until lunch break when she met Renji and he told her what happened in the morning. When he got to the part where Kaya called his captain "noble-ass" Rukia gagged on the juice she was drinking and spat it out.

"WHAT?" she cried out "And she is still alive? I told her to be polite to nii-" but Renji yelled "Will you let me finish!".

After that all the people at the grilled meat bar where they ate lunch looked at them.

Renji scowled, "Oh crap lets find a quiet place.".

They sat in a small park under a tree and Renji continued telling Rukia about the morning's events.

"Well its good things ended this way." Rukia sighed when Renji finished.

"Good thinking Renji, calling captain Unohana, who knows what might have happened if you didn't" they both shuddered at the thought of Byakuya obliterating Kaya.

Renji shook his head to clear his mind from a picture where captain Kuchiki was standing with a bloody mass splattered on his office wall "Its lucky really, that the only person who can calm Kaya down is a captain Unohana. Otherwise I don't think the captain would have let it go down so easily.".

Rukia nodded in agreement and said "Oh I just remembered! Nii-sama came to ask me where Kaya lives and asked me to go visit her later on today. Are you sure the fight ended with no injuries?".

Renji frowned "Ya, she was still standing when I last saw her. Except Injured pride because of that lousy kidou Kaya was perfectly fine... Hmm now that you mentioned it... I didn't see them both after that... Sakurai came running to the squad saying he saw captain and a girl near the barracks... So i suppose he showed her around. And when captain came back he didn't say anything... And I er... Didn't feel like asking...".

Rukia jumped to her feet and kicked Renji.

"Hey! What the hell was that for!" he yelled in pain, rubbing his shin.

"Renji you idiot! You should have at least asked if Kaya is in one piece!" she shouted at him.

Renji got up angrily and shouted back at Rukia "Oh yeah sure I should have asked! 'So captain how is Kaya? Oh you reaped her to piece and scattered her in the wind? well in that case there's no need for me to go look fo-OUCH!" Renji doubled in pain after Rukia kicked him again, this time in the groin.

"Don't be a fool Renji! Nii-sama would never do such a thing! When are you finishing today?" she said puffing angrily.

Renji straightened himself and said "hmmmm 6... maybe... why?".

Rukia started to go back to the 13th squad's barracks "Meet me at 6:30 near the 'Hollow Glass' bar" and vanished.

The Hollow Glass was a filthy place, in a filthy square, where Kaya happened to rent her tiny apartment. They never actually sat in the bar. The place smelt of what could only be a pig's urine mixed with burned dirty diaper. Rukia had to hold her breath as she waited for Renji to arrive. Just when her head was starting to go fuzzy from the smell, she saw Renji and hurried to get away from the foul smell.

"What took you so long?" she blurted at him.

They started walking to the building in which Kaya lived.

"Rangiku showed up and started asking about Kaya. That gossiping goose, only thanks to captain Hitsugaya I was able to shake her off." Renji said irritably.

"Poor Kaya, by tomorrow everyone in soul society will know what happened today. I'm surprised Rangiku didn't already tell everyone she met." Rukia sighed "She will probably drink herself stupid tonight and then tell everyone.".

It was dark when they arrived at Kaya's building. it was a 3 stories building, with 4 apartments each floor. Kaya lived in the 3rd apartment of the 3rd floor. They climbed the rickety stairs and arrived at the 3rd door of the 3rd floor. They knocked. No answer. They knocked again. No answer, and then...

"OI BYAKUYA IS THAT YOU JAGOFF? GET YOUR SKINNY ASS IN HERE YOU FUCKING SLUTBAG! YOUR GONNA PAY FOR-" Kaya's loud voice yelled thru the door and was interrupted by the next door neighbor "Hey shut the fuck up will ya!".

Renji and Rukia, who stood stunned while Kaya was yelling her head off, took advantage of the silence and tried to open the door.

It was locked.

"Hey fool its Rukia and Renji, open up!" Rukia called, trying not to think what might have happened if it really was Byakuya who knocked and not them.

"Oh smoking gaywad, the door is locked, that fucking bastard!" was Kaya's reply.

Rukia and Renji looked at each other and then Renji said "So why wont you UN-lock the door dumbass". there was a silence for a few seconds.

"I cant. Come thru the window, its open." Kaya said in a rather quiet voice so that Renji and Rukia had to press their ears to the door to hear her properly.

"Thru the window what the hell?" Renji blurted but Kaya didn't answer.

Renji started suggesting that they could blast the door open but Rukia had already climbed on the roof. The window was indeed open and they jumped in thru it. It was a tiny place consisting of one room and a bathroom. In the middle of the room was a small low round table. in one corner was a small cabinet, and in another a green futon. On the futon laid Kaya motionless and six (thou they could see only 4) narrow beams of light attached to her midsection.

"Err... what the hell?" asked Renji.

"Shut the fuck up and release me! I need to pee!" Kaya yelled.

Rukia and Renji had to put both their reiatsu to break the bakudo that they both could bet their lives on was created by Byakuya. The moment the kido was broken, Kaya leaped to her feet spitting curses and run to the bathroom.

"K-Kaya?" Rukia mumbled as they heard the sound of dripping water "What happened-" but an angry shout stopped her mid sentence.

"Shut your face and never mention this shit again!".

Both Renji and Rukia grinned and laughed silently, imagining Kaya going red like the raising sun.

After a while Renji asked "jeez Kai, how long it takes to pee, and from the sound of it ill really think you pee standing".

Rukia and Renji snorted with laughter. They had a recurring joke that Kaya was actually a boy.

"Shut your pee hole monkey-boy! And don't call me Kai! People might actually think I'm a boy." Kaya said, flashing the toilet.

Renji snorted "Does it matter? You never really give a damn what people think. And anyway I still haven't seen any proof you are a girl - ouch!" Rukia punched him on the head.

"And you never will Renji." Kaya said, exiting the bathroom "You will have to take my word for it. And Rukia's of course" she added winking at Rukia.

"eeeeehh!" Renji's mouth almost reached the floor.

"Get a grip you fool." Rukia said and sighed.

Kaya sat down near the table still laughing and pulled a pack of crisps from underneath it opened it, and started munching.

When Rukia and Renji joined her at the small table she said "You know I wouldn't interfere with you and Rukia.".

Renji flushed slightly and stared at the ceiling.

Rukia grinned "I'm not so sure... I've seen how you look at Renji lately...".

At this Renji flushed even more and Kaya said with a swagger "Oh p-ha-lease... Renji is not my type.".

Renji retorted "Oh yeah, well your not exactly my type either, KAI." rolling his tongue out at Kaya.

Kaya made to swallow a mouthful of crisps and was about to say something back when Rukia said "Is nii-sama your type, Kaya?".

On hearing that Kaya started coughing as pieces of crisps got stuck in her throat. Renji hurried to thump her on the back as Rukia jumped to the cabinet to get a glass which she filled with water from the bathroom.

coughing and retching, Kaya tried to clear her throat and gulped some water.

"Blahh.. Shit that was... Painful." she croaked.

They were silent for a moment and then Rukia asked seriously "So what do you think about nii-sama?".

Kaya frowned and said "Well, he is a stuck up, law-keeping maniac, and he tried to kill me 3 times today! First by shame on the crappy training ground, second by suffocation in the fagging forest and third by ruptured bladder!" .

Renji sniggered "Well the first was your fault for trying to do that lame kido. you know your no good at it so why try? I don't...".

Kaya snorted "hmff and you are just a lousy lieutenant. I'm gonna to be a captain so I must know some kido...".

Rukia and Renji looked at each other. Since they met Kaya, she always said she was going to be stronger and become a captain. Why she wanted to get stronger, they never managed to find out. It might have been because she came from the 80th rukongai, where the strong live and the weak die. But she wasn't there anymore. What is her true goal?

It was Rukia who spoke then "Suffocation in the forest? Its not as bad as it sounds does it?" she asked, a frown on her face.

Kaya laid sideways with one foot propped against the matted floor, and rested her elbow on the floor as well and her chin on her hand.

"Nah" she said offhandedly "He just used his reiatsu to shut me up i guess...".

Renji grinned and said "The captain managed to shut you up? Perhaps you do fit together." Renji and Rukia both laughed at that.

"Only in your wet dreams Renji." Kaya said, going slightly red as the two of them kept laughing.

When they relaxed Kaya asked, "So how do you manage? I mean he doesn't know about you two f-"

"Who-ho-oh-keyyy!. No he doesn't know and we hope to keep it that way Kaya! And besides its not only that! Its a very complicated thing!" Renji blurted red faced.

"I dunno Renji, we will have to tell him sooner or later..." said Rukia looking sadly out of the window.

"Yeah better later then sooner." Renji said.

"You are such a fucking dick-less cowered Renji." Kaya said quietly.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Renji stood up looking at Kaya furiously, but Rukia tugged at his hand and said "Renji calm down!" and added after he sat back down "I hate keeping secrets from my brother...".


	5. A Bad Way To Start The Day

Next morning the captain of squad 6 arrived at his office early as usual. His mind was calm as always, even at the sight of the horde of paperwork that invaded his desk overnight. The events of last day did not unsettle him in any way. He pushed the memory of his first meeting with Otori Kaya to the back of his mind, altho he did not intend to forget it. He was going, as he told her yesterday, to give her a chance to start again, but she will have to pay for her insolance.

By 8:15 it was clear to him that the foolish girl did not take his generous offer. There was no sign of her. He extended his awareness to a wider radius but did not sense her mind blowing reiatsu. He made a mental note to tell her to keep her reiatsu down while walking around seireitei. By 8:30 he began to worry that maybe she hadn't recovered yet from the bakudo he cast on her yesterday. He dismissed this thought quickly since he clearly felt the thin string of energy connected to him break yesterday around 7. he knew it was around the time Rukia finished her duty so he assumed she complied to his request and went to visit the brat.

He also felt Renji's reiatsu along with Rukia's when he broke the bakudo. Keeping the bakudo on the girl was not as hard as one might think, considering the great distance between them after it was cast. Her poor ability in controlling reiatsu made it embarrassingly easy to keep the bakudo up. She did resist the restraining kidou at first, but ended up wasting her energy on futile attempts to get free. From the corner of his eye Byakuya saw Renji sneaks nervous glances at him. He wondered if the girl told Renji and Rukia what happened yesterday and came to the conclusion that she was too proud to admit such shameful defeat.

Kaya tried to get up early that day and show up on time, thinking that the training ground would be empty at that time. She failed however, completely. First, the alarm clock failed to wake her up, something that happened far too often. Second, she wasted a considerable amount of time at the toilet.

'Damn crisps must be off date again.' she thought miserably after 15 minutes.

Then on her way to the 6th squad she thought she felt someone stalking her. Of course her reiatsu sensing ability was somewhat none existing, but her senses told her she had a second shadow. The stalker hid himself well, she could barely hear his footsteps, which meant a lot since her hearing was excellent. As she run down the empty ally she wondered if she should waste time confronting the stalker. Before she could reach a decision a huge thing jumped at her, aiming a punch to her face. Anyone else caught by that surprise attack probably would have been knocked out, with some teeth flying. However she dodged instinctively. When she widened the gap between herself and the attacker she realized that he wasn't the one stalking her, since someone as big as this could not possibly tread so lightly. A second later the giant stepped in for another punch, and Kaya back-stepped to stay out of his range. As she did she heard the second attacker move in from behind her, and from the whistling air she knew he carried a weapon. Kaya glanced backward just in time to see a sheathed zanpakto aimed at her back. She flipped backward above the second attacker. In the seconds it took her to land gracefully behind the armed attacker she looked carefully at the two people. The first was a very tall (probably 2 meters) and muscled guy with waist-long black hair and dark thin eyes. He wore a dark red headband and matching fingerless gloves. His zanpakto hanged on his hip from the sash and a strip of red ribbon trailed from the pommel.

The other one was a woman. She was taller then Kaya by about a head and had her pink hair fastened high with a hair-clip, although some loose strands of hair fell on her face. She wore short shihakusho that only went a little below her waist, and knee high pinkish-white boots. her eyes were blue, and like her accomplice surveyed Kaya with smug expression. The sheathed zanpakto in her hands was at least 1.5 meters long and she had a sort of pink scarf tied to her sash.

'I've seen them before!' Kaya thought, and with a flare of anger she remembered seeing them among the laughing crowd yesterday. But before she could do anything her senses sent thundering warnings to her. 'another one?' she thought desperately as she heard the evasive steps again closing in on her. She turned around just as she heard a tiny clink of metal against metal and the unmistakable whistle of a swinging sword. But the alley was empty. After a second that felt like hours she felt the pain. Again her instincts kicked in automatically. Reacting to the pain, she side stepped to the left and strained her eyes and ears to find the third attacker.

"Impressive" said an entirely-unimpressed voice.

Where she stood a seconds earlier Kaya saw the attacker materialize from thin air. His slightly blood-stained blade protruded from a spring mechanism on his wrist. It looked like a double-edged tanto. The third newcomer was slightly shorter then the woman with the pink hair and had a thin built. his face was covered below his eyes by a thin dark fabric mask and he had spiky silver hair and dark eyes that, unlike his comrades', looked bored and tired.

'He must be from the stealth force. Did he come to arrest me? What did I do now?' Kaya thought. Rukia told her about the secret mobile corps whose jobs went from conveying top secret messages to assassinating renegade shinigami. She never actually saw one of the onmitsukido but the person in front of her radiated a strong aura of ninjaness.

"Whatcha talking about jackass? I didn't dodge in time." she asked the white haired guy.

"You could react in time to my stealth attack. Its a shallow scratch, I wouldn't even call it an injury." he said in a bored voice.

'He has a point'. Kaya thought, 'If I had dodged a moment later his blade would have slipped between my ribs.'.

The woman sniggered and stepped closer. Kaya tensed, ready for the next attack.

"Dumb luck I call it." she said dismissively "A trash like you is not worthy of being a shinigami, let alone being thought by a captain." and with that the three of them attacked.

The giant came first. He aimed a powerful punch at Kaya. She dodged by placing her palm on his hand and jumping above it. Then the woman swiped downward with her sheathed zanpakto and yelled:

"You are pathetic! Go back to the rat-hole you came from!".

Kaya side-steeped the katana and after it hit the ground stepped on it and kicked her opponent hard in the face. she felt a huge satisfaction at hearing the thud as her foot hit the stupid pink-haired head. She almost forgot the ninja guy. He sneaked behind her and stabbed with his hidden blade. Kaya managed to dodge but only because he got careless after succeeding in sneaking up to her a second time. She caught his hand with both of hers, turned around and swung him over her shoulder. She heard the heavy footsteps of the big one and turned to face him when she felt a shocking pain on her head.

'The pink bitch!' Kaya thought as stars and blood obscured her vision. She stumbled but did not fall. She looked to see the woman swinging her sheathed zanpakto triumphantly and saying:

"Whats with that look rat? You didn't think that little poke could finish me off did you?".

Kaya knew it was a false taunt. The woman had a bruise on her right cheek and a thin trail of blood dripped from her right nostril and the corner of her mouth. She didn't have time to retort back because of the kick that hit her ribs. Only with great effort Kaya did not bend over in pain. She tried to regain her stance but received a punch to the kidney which sent her to her knee. The giant raised his hand to drop a hammer punch on her head when Kaya felt her rage reach boiling point. She swiped a kick to the back of the knee and toppled the giant man, dropping a heel into his stomach. Then turned around to catch the ninja's feet which kicked at her from behind and kicked his chin. As the ninja flew backward Kaya went back to the still lying giant, sat on his chest and started raining punches on his face. She stopped only when she heard the woman's weapon swing toward her head and jumped high into the air. The jump was to high tho, and it gave her opponents time to recover and surround her. When she landed she felt a sharp pain in her ribs, probably fractured from the giant's kick.

'Shit.' she thought as her head throbbed painfully 'Why now?' she also became aware of the blood trickling down her face as her vision started to fade. The three closed in on her. She saw a flash of steel as the woman started drawing her zanpakto. The ninja pointed his tanto at her and the giant pulled his fist backward charging his punch. Kaya clenched her teeth as they drew near and grabbed her zanpakto, but then she heard a voice:

"Extend my shadow, Kogarasumaru".

The three froze. Kaya stood still as well not sure what happened. She tried to move and found out she could.

"Damn Akamaru how dare you?" the giant spat shaking with rage and the effort to throw off whatever it was that held him.

Kaya looked around and saw a young man, cant be much older then her, about the same height as the ninja or shorter as far as she could tell because he was shielding his face from the sun with a dark blue umbrella. As he walked toward the group Kaya noticed that he had a very thin and fragile looking body.

"What are you doing? You are going to be late." he said in a dull voice.

Kaya moved out from the circle of attackers and watched the newcomer, hand still on her zanpakto. Then she noticed that the three where covered in what looked like thin lines of...

shadows? The shadows were wrapped around their hands and legs, restraining their movements.

"Its not very manly, you know? To attack a girl three on one." the kid said to the giant.

"And its stupid to be jealous of someone because she got the captain you wanted." he said to the woman.

"And... oh well I guess attacking from behind is what you do best..." he finished, talking to the ninja.

Now that he was closer Kaya noticed that the kid had dark red hair that fell on his face and almost completely obscured his sunken, pale eyes.

"Release us you little freak!" the woman snarled.

The boy blinked lazily and said in the same dull voice "You should just ask nicely, you know?" and the three were free from the shadows.

Only then Kaya noticed that the umbrella had a katana's hilt which meant it was his zanpakto. She looked down quickly and managed to see the ends of the thin shadows retreating into the boy's shadow.

'What the fuck?' she thought.

The giant spat on the floor "tsk, lets go" he said and the three disappeared.

"Hey wait! I'm not done with you, you dicksneezers!" Kaya yelled angrily, but they were already gone.

Kaya rounded on the boy and said furiously:

"Oi! Who the fuck asked you to butt in? And who the freaking hell are you?".

The boy looked at her with his odd, colorless, pale eyes and said in his dull voice:

"I was just passing by when I saw these three causing troubles. Actually I saw only two since Kohaku was invisible, you know. I was surprised when he appeared, you know? He usually don't take part in Shigure's fooling around, you know? Maybe it was because of Tadashi, I think he fancies her, you know? Hmm I don't suppose you do tho, you just met them. Come to think of it, it was probably Tadashi's idea..." and he trailed off.

Kaya stared at him, not sure if it was because of his dull tone, the over-use of "you know", his totally weird appearance or the fact that he was walking around with an open umbrella at this sunny day but the kid radiated a strong feeling of wacko-ness.

"Who the flying crap are you?" she asked again.

"Well its kind of rude to ask someone his name without giving him yours, you know?" he said dully.

Kaya scratched her ear and said:

"Otori Kaya, and if you say the words 'you know' one more time my brain will melt!".

The kid stared at her and said:

"I'm Akamaru Shoji, and I don't think that's possible, you know? Oh my bad..".

Kaya's head gave a particularly painful throb. She grabbed it with both her hands and sighed in pain. And then she remembered what time it was.

"Oh fucking assgoblin! I need to get to squad 6! And don't you need to be somewhere?" as she spoke she started running and didn't hear his reply.

"Yeah I suppose, but captain Kurotsuchi doesn't really care if I'm late, you know...".

As she ran to the Byakuya's office Kaya tried to conceal her reiatsu as Renji suggested last night. She didn't see why it had offended Byakuya so much but tried to anyway. She failed spectacularly. She was still angry at the uncalled for attack from the trio and at the weird kid butting in and her head still felt as tho a bunch of rhinos decided to step-dance on her head.

The cracked rib sent sharp jolts of pain with every breath she took. As a result her reiatsu flowed freely and angrily around her in waves. She wasn't entirely surprised to see some squad members starring at her at the entrance. She was, however, surprised to see Byakuya standing there.

'Hes not waiting for me is he? I mean he probably has better things to do then wait for me to show up. and what the fucking sashimi are they looking at?' Kaya thought as she skidded to a halt in front of Byakuya. She tried to gently massage her aching side but it was too painful so she scratched her ear.

"Heya Byakuya! You aren't waiting for me are you?" she asked and smiled weakly, suddenly aware that her face was covered in blood and that her shihakusho was ripped at the side and soaked in blood. The wound at her ribs widened and bled while she ran and was now gently dripping blood on the floor. Byakuya looked at her, his face as indifferent as ever, and said not looking away:

"Don't you people have work to do? I can easily find something to occupy you if you have too much leisure time.".

At once all the squad members mumbled apologies and vanished from sight.

"What happened to you?" Byakuya asked.

"Oh great" Kaya sighed in relief "Your not fucking mad that I'm late.".

"What makes you say what?"

Kaya flinched and said:

"Ah well... You didn't ask why I'm so damn late so er..." she finished faintly.

Byakuya looked at her for a moment before saying:

"I was hoping to hear the reason you are late and look as tho you stumbled onto the 11th squad's training ground.".

"What? oh err... Well... Would you like to hear what really happened? Or you want me to make some crap up?" she asked brightly.

Byakuya stared at the girl. Did she try to crack a joke?

"I think if I made something up it will be more convincing. And less fucking embarrassing..." .

The last four words she mumbled quietly to herself but Byakuya heard her. He didn't say anything and kept his eyes fixed on hers. Kaya averted her eyes and started talking very fast:

"Well the gaywad alarm clock didn't go off and then I had a little freaking digesting problem, if you know what I mean, and then on my way here I was ambushed by three shitbags so I had to kick their sorry asses into oblivion and then this weird guy with a flapping umbrella showed up and started talking nonsense and saying 'you know' after every fucking other word and well err.. Here I am!" she finished lamely.

She did her best to stop the curses flying out every other word like Rukia and Renji advised yesterday, but some of them still managed to slip.

Byakuya scanned the injures and was impressed against his will. If she really got out with those injures after being attacked by 3 people then maybe she really had some talent. That or she was lying. Why would someone want to attack a girl? And three of them...

"How did you escape?" he asked, trying to catch her off guard.

"Escape?" the girl asked "They ran with their smoking tails between their legs! Ha!" she crossed her hands angrily and added: "I could have probably finish them faster if I had used my zanpakto but..." she trailed off.

"Do you know them? What squads they are from?" Byakuya asked.

"Nope, never seen them before. Anyway who cares! Lets start training for fucking sake!" she said firing up.

Byakuya looked at the puddle of blood at the girl's feet and said: "I think It would be wiser that you go to the 4th squad so they can fix you up before you start skipping around.".

Kaya scratched her ear and said "Huh? I don't need fixing up! I'm fine lets start!".

Byakuya began to tire from this conversation and said coldly: "Its not you that I'm concerned about but the squad's building. I don't want you splattering blood all over the place.".

The girl scowled at him and said: "Fine fine I'll be right back." and disappeared to the nearest toilet.

Byakuya waited outside, wondering what on earth she was doing, and hoping he would not have to drag her all the way to the 4th squad. After five minutes she got out. Her hair was wet and and the cloth near the wound in her belly was dump. But it was not bleeding anymore, and her face was clean.

She gave him a cocky smile and said "Happy now? Can we start? While I'm still fucking young.".

Byakuya didn't say anything and started walking to the training grounds. As he heard her hurrying to catch up to him he asked "How did you tend to your wounds?" he doubted she used medical kidou with her poor skills.

"Oh emm... Retsu san gave me a quick-working medicine and some paste to heal minor wounds, and my wounds always heal pretty fast." she said quickly as she trotted up to his side.

He looked at her from the corner of his eyes and lengthened his passes slightly.

"Unohana gave you medical supply?" he asked slightly puzzled, he wondered about the connection that seemed to exist between the 4th squad's captain and his new subordinate.

"Yeah. It was on my second week at the academy, after I've been sent to the her squad for treatment almost every fucking day." she said lightly.

'This girl seem to attract troubles.' Byakuya thought.

After a minute silent he said: "Are you sure you don't want to move into the barracks? That way it will be easier for you to get here on time, and you wont get distracted on your way by innocent bystanders.".

"What? No fucking way! It wasn't my damn fault I was attacked! I didn't start this shit! And I told you, I'm not living in that stinking pig-hole!" Kaya retorted angrily.

'Not that your place is any better.' Byakuya thought. He was shocked to see her place. He had no idea people could live in such a small and dirty places.

"Its not that bad. Rukia sleeps in the barracks, you could ask her." he said.

"What? Yes I- err I mean yeah ill ask..." the girl replied and looked away.

She almost revealed the fact that she knew Rukia was sleeping at the barracks. Squad 6 barracks to be more precise. Renji's room if you wanted to be even more accurate. Byakuya didn't say anything on her last comment, tho he had a very good idea what she almost said. He knew very well that Rukia spent her nights with his lieutenant. When thinking about it he referred to her as "sleeping in the barracks" because he wasn't sure how he felt about it. One morning he went to the squad very early because he couldn't get sleep and saw her leaving the 6th squad's barracks, where Renji lived. Prior to that she spent more evenings out then usual, saying she was meeting "Renji and some others.". He thought it was pretty stupid of them to be having their meetings in his squad, especially since they thought to hide it from him. He thought it was even more stupid to confine their "secret" to the Otori girl who seem to have a mouth as big as Komamura's bankai. Then it occurred to him that she probably just walked in on them, with her habit of charging into places.

"I know." He wasn't sure why he said it, or why even to her.

"Huh?" Kaya said, distracted.

He didn't say anything, wondering if he really wanted to get into this conversation, and with this girl out of all people. He decided that the answer to both those questions was "absolutely no". after a few seconds silence she spoke again:

"Hey Byakuya... can we er... train somewhere else? I mean..." she stopped and scratched her ear, her face slightly red "A place with no people around?".

He stopped and looked back at her.

"A place with no people around? Why? Are you hoping to avoid further humiliating yourself? If thats the case, fear not. I do not believe you can conjure anything as pathetic as what you did yesterday." he said, not sure why he was satisfied to see the girl react angrily.

"Wha? Tha-thats not it! I- I just- shit- I- don't like it when when... when so many people look at me fighting, thats all! And don't ever mention that crap again!" she yelled at him red faced and reiatsu streaming out. Some doors opened to see what all the commotion was about. But before Byakuya could tell them to clear out, the girl rounded at one of the faces popping out of a near door.

"And what the gaying fungus are you gawking at you nasty pile of- mnmnmnn!" before she could finish Byakuya put a hand on her mouth and told the watchers to go back to their business.

Kaya pushed his hand and said, still red faced, "So is there a fucking privet place to train here?" in a very irritated voice.

"I might be mistaken, but it sounds to me like you are saying your poor performance yesterday was due to the fact that there were people watching you?" Byakuya said in a quiet voice.

"Ha! well then your hearin's quite good, Byakuya." the girl said boastfully.

"We can go to a more privet place, but I expect to be astounded by some extraordinary skills. And I do not want to hear you call me so casually like that again." he said, drawing slightly closer to her.

"Well then you'll just have to close your damn ears! And don't worry, your gonna be fucking astounded! By the taste of the dirt! And, don't forget I'm going to make you eat some things you said yesterday!".

Byakuya looked at her for a minute, deciding that this girl will get her punishment during their training, and then said after turning his back to her "You talk very high. I expect you to stand by your words, or you shall be the one doing the eating. And you have a lot to chew." and with that he flash stepped away.

He used a very slow and short flash steps, taking into account the fact that she probably cant even do a single flash step and will have to run and jump all the way to the top of the buildings he was passing. He was surprised then, to see her keeping up about 50 meters behind him. He stopped so suddenly that she bumped into him and fell on her behind. He noticed that any trace of the gracefulness she displayed yesterday during the spar was gone. When out of fight she was as clumsy as a hippo. But thats not why he stopped.

"You can do flash step?" he asked as she got up cursing furiously.

"Well duh! How the hell d'you think I got here?" she said angrily. despite her casual words, she panted slightly. It was obvious she wasn't very adept at flash stepping for long distances. Had her answer was not cheeky, Byakuya might have considered taking her with his flash steps like yesterday. However he decided to let her sweat her rage out. He continued the flesh steps without a word and heard her cursing as he started again without warning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kogarasu Maru means "little crow". Shoji's zanpakto. looks like an umbrella in its sealed form.


	6. Lightning Strikes And Thunder Roars! Privet Training

They were standing in the middle of a rocky field at the edge of a huge manor.

The ground was flat and even, with a few blades of grass popping here and there, and a single cherry tree at the far end.

"Wow.. What is this place?" Kaya asked, panting from the effort of keeping up with Byakuya's flesh steps.

"Its the Kuchiki clan's training ground of course." Byakuya said walking ahead to open a space between them.

When he was 20 meters away from her he turned around and said "Now come. Or perhaps you need some time to catch your breath?" with the faintest amount of taunt in his voice.

It worked. The girl drew her zanpakto holding it backward like yesterday and rushed at him. Just like yesterday he dodged it, but noticed that it was better aimed. He also noticed she held the wakizashi in her right hand this time. Her next blow, another slash also missed, but he had to put a little more effort to avoid the blade. Her kicks also seemed more accurate, not the rush, reckless blows of yesterday. After he blocked a punch with his hand, she drew back, did a somersault, and attacked with her left hand again. Expecting another punch and preparing to block it, Byakuya was surprised to see a flash of steel. She switched hands. He dodged it and aimed a kick at her feet. She didn't expect it and toppled sideways, but recovered quickly lending on her right hand and flipping gracefully back to her feet. She twirled the short weapon in her hand so that the blade was now upward, her fingers handling the weapon with artistic mastery.

"Ambidextrous? Feel free to be satisfied. You have impressed me even if only slightly." Byakuya said.

"Ha! Ill be satisfied after your face hit the fucking floor!" Kaya yelled at him.

He starred at her, almost smiling, and said "Then I'm afraid you will die unsatisfied.".

He started to find this girl slightly amusing. She actually thought she was equal to him. No, she thought she was better then him. It would be fun, to bring her crushing back to reality.

When she started toward him he raised his hand and pointed at her.

"Hado 4 byakurai." he said and a thin ray of blue energy shot from his finger.

She gasped in surprised but manage to dodge. He aimed a few more beams at her and she dodged them all, but only narrowly. She tried to get close to him but he didn't let her, pushing her back with his kido. When a ray almost hit her leg she jumped back and stood still. He stopped his fire, ready to start again should she make a move forward. But she didn't. Instead she returned the zanpakto to her right hand. she then raised her right hand, holding the wakizashi downward, and reached with her left hand behind her and retrieving the sheath holding it close to her chest with with middle and index finger pointing up, as if in pray.

"Jump between, Hiraishin!" she said.

A lightning exploded around her making a cloud of dust raise from the ground. When the dust cleared Byakuya saw her crouching with one hand on the ground, the other holding her shikai. It was smaller then the wakizashi. It was a blade covering her knuckles and extending into a short knife at the bottom, like a trench knife. But that was not all. Her hands were covered in gloves now. Dark blue gloves that extended almost to her elbow and were lined with pale yellow markings. The left glove was fingerless except the middle and index fingers. He heard a faint crackle of lightning as she charged at him with her zanpakto. He shot another thin ray of energy at her. She didn't dodge it this time, but instead raised her zanpakto and blocked it. When she got close enough to him he saw electricity emanating from the blade. He evaded her attack and prepared to counter attack when he saw her free hand reaching to him, as tho to catch him. He jumped back to avoid her. Her zanpakto's powers were yet unknown to him, so regardless of her ability he should stay on guard. When he looked up he saw her looking slightly frustrated. He also noticed that the blade was no longer crackling with lightning.

"You didn't really think you could grab me did you?" he taunted her, hoping to lure her into revealing her zanpakto's secrets.

Her frustration changed into a sly smile.

"Maybe I did. you'll just have ta find out." she said and attacked again.

And again the blade crackled. He heard it as it passed near his ear. A second later he was surprised to feel a sharp pain in his ear and the worm dribble of blood on his neck. He stopped and touched his ear, and withdrawing his hand he saw blood. But it was impossible. He dodged her blade completely. He did it narrowly, to tease her, but he absolutely avoided it.

"Whats the matter? Surprised to see that your blood is the same color as everyone else's?" it was her turn to taunt.

He didn't answer, but flash stepped to the front of a small building that stood near the training field and put his haori and scarf on the wooden boards outside it and returned to his waiting opponent. She seemed highly satisfied about hitting him, tho he still wasn't sure how she did it. He underestimated his enemy, as pathetic is she was, and got hit as a result. It will not happen again.

"Memorize that feeling you had when you hit me." he said to her, griping the hilt of his zanpakto "You will never feel it again." and with that drew his weapon and charged at her.

There was a slight surprise in her eyes, that was instantly turned into the focused look of an experienced fighter, looking for openings in his opponent's guard. He did not attack with full force of course, neither with full speed. At first she managed to avoid his attacks in that graceful manner she displayed when attacking, And even succeeded in retaliating here and there. Every time their blades met he felt faint current running thru his sword. After a while her moves slowed down, and he managed to cut her here and there. She tried to grab him again once or twice, and withdrew quickly after every failed attempt, and every time he noticed the crackle disappearing. He made sure to keep her blade away from his body, because he started to suspect its cutting edge extended beyond the steel thru the lightning covering it. His suspicions were confirmed when he knocked her back and the blade was only an inch or two from the ground, but a shallow slash appeared on the ground as if the blade went thru it. He was beginning to wonder about the nature of the grabs, and if it had anything to do with the two-fingered glove. A shikai had no unnecessary features. The right glove was obviously to protect her from the lightning emitting from the steel she held otherwise bare handed. The left glove had something to do with touch, probably even the minimal touch is enough for it to work, as only two fingers were covered. Just as this thought crossed his mind he felt a small tap on the back of his left hand. He backed away from her quickly, cursing his lightheadedness.

She charged at him and he raised his sword to defend, but then, she disappeared. She didn't move fast, she just disappeared. It was as simple as that. And an instant later she was near him, just like that. She didn't move closer to him, he would have seen her, felt her move. But she was there. Just like she simply disappeared a second earlier, she was simply there now, aiming a stab at his abdomen. He noticed the blade did not crackle. With one hand he caught her wrist, and as he thought, there was no lightning. But then it happened again, she disappeared. He didn't feel her tug her hand free, she just vanished from his grip. He looked up and saw her standing at the same place where she released her zanpakto. He dismissed the idea that it was an illusion, due to the fact that she bore all the cuts he inflicted on her and that it wasn't her style to use such cheap tricks. And then as he looked at her panting slightly his eyes were drown to her left glove. the markings were glowing slightly. He also noticed that the markings on the left glove were different from the markings on the right glove. On the left were round curved lines wheres on the right the lines were sharp and broken.

The girl frowned a little when she saw his gaze drift to her left hand and then she disappeared again. This time Byakuya was ready for her. When she appeared on his left he sent his hand to grab her again, this time her left hand. But before he could catch here she was gone again. And as he guessed she reappeared back at the same spot she released her shikai.

She looked surprised that he anticipated her moves.

"You can transfer yourself to places marked by your left hand. Space and time warping, very impressive for a brat like you. But it will not work on me again." he said calmly.

She looked at him with anger in her eyes. probably because he figured out her zanpakto's ability so quickly.

"Don't call me that." she said very quietly.

"Hmm? What did you say?" he asked tilting his head slightly to one side.

"Don't call me brat!" she yelled and disappeared.

When next she appeared, she slashed immediately with her zanpakto and was highly satisfied to hear a ripping sound.

'Wait, a ripping sound?' she thought. What she cut was not Byakuya's hand as she thought. What fell to the ground silently was only his glove.

'Shit.' she thought as she heard him move behind her but it was too late to evade.

"I thought I just told you it will not work." his cold voice said from behind her as she felt sharp pain in her back as he slashed her.

She rounded on him, sending a reverse heel kick at his head, but he blocked it easily because she was exhausted. He attacked with his sword again, this time aiming at her right hand. As she rolled in the air to avoid his blade he heard the crackle again. When their blades clashed he felt the electric current flowing into his sword stronger then ever. The girl looked tired but also angry.

She probably channeled whatever reiatsu she has left into this attack. As their blades locked and the girl struggled to push him back, her eyes full of determination, Byakuya wondered how much control she actually had over her powers.

"You are at your limit. There is no shame in admitting defeat. The difference in power between us is something you do not seem to comprehend." he said.

"You talk too much, Byakuya. The sky is the limit for me, and beside, I'm still standing.." the girl replied weakly.

Byakuya pushed slightly, and she crouched a little, refusing to back away. She was shaking from the effort of holding her zanpakto against what felt like a bear and keeping the flow of reiatsu into the blade.

With a quick and effortless motion Byakuya pushed her zanpakto away from him and slashed at her right hand. It was a shallow cut, not deep enough to cut the skin, only to rip the glove. A yell of pain escaped Kaya's lips as the electric current ran thru her body. She knelt on the ground, panting and shaking, still recovering from the shocking pain she felt a second before.

"If you fly too high, your wings will burn and you will crash down to the ground." she heard Byakuya's voice say.

She gritted her teeth and spat "So what? Ill just have to fly up again.".

As she tried to get up she saw his blade in front of her face.

"Thats enough. I have seen more then necessary to determine that you have no talent at all." he said in a cold voice.

"What the fuck did you say?" Kaya said, her anger raising again. Now that she stopped moving, she became aware again of the pounding pain in her head from the blow she got earlier.

"I am not going to repeat myself. I will go tomorrow to the head captain and tell him you are not up to the challenge. You will probably be sent back to the academy or better, to Rukongai, where you belong." Byakuya said.

The girl in front of him positively radiated waves of rage. She knocked his blade aside with hers and got up clumsily, clutching her head.

"Fuck you! I'm not going back! I don't have talent? How can you tell from just one shitting fight!" she yelled at him.

"Mind your tone, brat. Until tomorrow I am still your captain." he said, and his blade rested on her neck "And compared to the other candidates to captaincy you are nothing but a bad joke. Each of them is a prodigy and at least one of them is expected to pass the captains trial within a few years.". Kaya flinched slightly when his sword touched her, but when he finished talking she asked:

"Whats prodigy?" scratching her ear.

"What?" Byakuya blurted, surprised, but regained himself quickly "A prodigy is word used to describe a person, especially a child or young person, with extraordinary talent or ability. Hitsugaya Toshiro is a prodigy. he is the youngest of the captains within the gotei 13 in the entire history of Soul Society.".

"I have talent! Look I managed to injure you!" she said pointing at his bloodstained ear "Give me a few weeks and ill chop off your head!".

Byakuya starred at the girl for a few seconds, astounded, wondering if she really failed to notice that he was holding back.

'Nonetheless she is rather amusing.' he thought.

"Ill arrange you to meet the other candidates today. Maybe then you will understand what I am trying to say." he said finally.

"I'm not going to give up, jackass, if thats your plan. You're stuck with me until I become a captain!" the girl said, crossing her hands.

"I have no aspiration to dissipate an eternity in your company." Byakuya said coldly and sheathed his sword.

"Oh yeah! Well I... What?" she splattered.

Byakuya sighed and said:

"Alright, show me some kido.".

"What? Do I have to? Whats wrong with just dueling?" she said quickly her face slightly red.

"You already showed your inability in that. Now lets see how you can handle kido, brat." he replied.

"Grrr fine!" she snapped.

She hated being called brat. It was how he used to call her.

She raised her left hand, open palmed and said "Hado 31 shakkaho!".

A small puff of red smoke shot from Her hand. Her face was bright red now.

"Cmon! shakkaho!" she said angrily, and again some red smoke trailed from her palm.

"31 is shakkaho right?" she said finally, turning to Byakuya, who stared at her dumbfounded.

"Indeed." he said when at last he found his voice. He was slightly surprised that it didn't work.

Unlike yesterday she didn't confuse the numbers. He thought it had something to do with her poor reiatsu control. "Say the incantation." he added.

She turned away from him, maybe trying to remember the incantation. Finally she raised her hand again and mumbled:

"mmm mask of flesh... creating something... winged bear... something something named inferno... see to the south... hmmm shakkaho?". This time there wasn't even a wisp of smoke.

She looked at him, her face glowing red and said, "I er... cant remember the incantation...".

Byakuya found himself again struck dumb. Before he could recover, the girl covered her right hand which still held the released zanpakto with her left hand and said "Ha! you dropped your guard!" then she raised her zanpakto and aimed a punch at him.

"Raikiri!" she shouted and bright lightning engulfed her right hand, crackling loudly.

The lighting was now clearly visible, crackling as blue bolts sparked from it. Instinctively Byakuya drew his sword and aimed at her wrist to deflect her punch. But his sword did not reach her hand this time. Instead it met a resisting reiatsu in the form of lightning, which almost deflected his sword. Finally he side stepped and the girl was flying forward carried by her momentum.

'This is dangerous.' he thought as her hand sunk elbow deep into the ground and a small crater was created as a result. He noticed that the hole he ripped earlier in her right glove was gone. It appear that she can reform the shikai. However her reiatsu was very low now, and she was sweating. As Byakuya considered her she seemed angry with herself for missing with that last attack. He arrived at the conclusion that she just might be worth his time.

'She lacks discipline and control, but she is not entirely without talent.'. he was not of course going to tell her that, he found her struggle to prove herself rather amusing.

"Wait for me near that cherry tree." he said and flesh stepped away.

Kaya shouted curses at him, but he was to far away to hear them. As she got to the tree she sealed her zanpakto and returned it to its sheath. She sighed and sat by the tree massaging her head.

"God fucking damnit, that was whooping lousy..." she said, disgruntled.

She picked her zanpakto again and looked at it, disappointment in her eyes.

"You could at least pretend to help." She said speaking to the short sword in her hand.

The sword of course did not answer back. It gleamed in the warm sun, looking as innocent as a sword, a tool meant for killing, could look.

"You are not gonna stand in the way to my dream, you asshole. Even if I have to get there on my own." She said quietly, gazing at the blue sky and returning the blade to its scabbard.

A minute later Byakuya was back. He had a scroll and a rope in his hand. Kaya eyed the rope in his hand and asked suspiciously "What are those?".

"This is a rope and this is a scroll of basic kido and their incantations." he said simply.

"Alright a scroll, but whats the danging rope for?" she asked, she had a very bad feeling about that.

"Get up." he said shortly.

A few minutes later Kaya found herself tied upside-down by her legs from the cherry tree, her head 30 centimeters from the ground. Her hands were also tied behind her back.

"WHAT THE FLYING CRAP IS THAT!" she yelled, her head pounding from the blood rushing down.

Byakuya didn't answer but put the scroll under her head, open at the "shakkaho" and placed two stones to prevent it from being blown by the wind.

"I am going to arrange a meeting with the other candidates. I expect you memorize that incantation until I return." he said as he got up.

"Say what! What kind of a fucking teaching method is that?" she asked angrily.

"You will remain tied until you can recount the incantation fluently." he said and took her zanpakto and the small pouch from her obi.

"Wha? Hey give it back!" she yelled at him.

"You wont need them." he said, and flash stepped away.

"FUCK YOU KUCHIKI BYAKUYA!" she yelled at the empty field.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiraishin means "flying thunder god" or "lightning rod". Kaya's zanpakto. The shikai looks kinda like Asuma's weapons (from naruto).
> 
> Raikiri means "lightning cutter".
> 
> ^Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto ^


	7. Meeting The Candidates. Again?!

Half an hour later Kaya was still to be found hanged upside-down from the cherry tree.

"God fucking damnit, I hate you Byakuya."Kaya mumbled. Her head hurt. Her whole body hurt from all the beating she got today.

"I don't remember seeing my name in the incantation.". Byakuya returned holding her zanpakto and pouch.

"Let me down." Kaya said hoarsely. Her head was hurting to much to yell. And her throat was dry from shouting curses.

Byakuya considered for a second and then drew his sword and cut the rope tying her legs to the tree.

"Ouch fuck!" she yelled as she hit the ground head first and landed face down. "What the fuck was that for, dickwad!".

She tried to get up but found it difficult because her hands were still tied behind her back.

"From now on every word you say and every action you take will have its consequences. Whether good or bad is up to you, so I suggest you tread carefully." Kaya heard him say, as he knelt close to her head. She gasped in surprise when she felt the cold steel of a blade behind her ear.

"Eye for an eye, as they say." he whispered in her ear. He smiled to himself as she went stiff, as tho expecting him to cut off her ear. Ignoring the temptation, he used her zanpakto to cut the rope around her wrists. He got up and waited for her to do the same. As she did he noticed she seemed slightly shaken. He looked at the scroll she was suppose to memorize.

"Are you telling me that after half an hour you still cannot recount the incantation? Maybe you should have spent less time cursing your head off." he said.

She didn't look at him, which annoyed him greatly. Didn't she have the faintest amount of manners?

"I got a problem reading long crap like that, OK?" she mumbled, scratching her ear, which turned bright red.

"You cant read?" Byakuya asked amazed.

"Of course I can freaking read!" she yelled, rounding on him "I just got some difficulties that's all! Can I have Hiraishin back dammit?".

"You have difficulties with many things such as waking up on time, speaking politely and controlling your own powers." he said holding out her zanpakto.

"I don't have any such problems! Especially with my power." she tried to take her zanpakto but he didn't let go. Instead he pulled her close to him and said quietly:

"Do you deny the fact that you failed to show up on time two days in a row? Or that you got struck by your own thunder? Or that you failed to show me even the faintest respect, not to talk about constantly dropping my honorific title.".

Kaya gritted her teeth but had nothing smart to say. She bit the inside of her lip in frustration and tightened the grip on her zanpakto.

"You said respect has to be earned. You are right. But the one who need to earn it is you. I have nothing to prove, especially to a brat like you." Byakuya said releasing her sword.

"Fine just don't call me that!" the girl snapped, placing the sword back in her obi.

Byakuya pretended to not hear her last words. He pointed at the building where he left his haori earlier and said:

"There's a bath in there, go clean yourself and get ready to meet the other candidates.".

Byakuya waited outside as she entered the bathroom. She looked around and was amazed to see that it was bigger then it looked from outside. The water in the big sunken pool were steaming and there where white towels and clean uniform for her to wear. She hesitated, starring into the deep pool in front of her. She jumped when she heard Byakuya's voice.

"I cant hear the water splashing. You do not have much time. Do I need to get in and help you undress?".

"Hell no! That would be sexual harassment!" Kaya said, glad that he couldn't see her flushing horribly.

"Unlikely. The other candidates bath with their masters after training." his voice answered.

Kaya felt her face grow hot and didn't answer. She decided it was better not to tell him that she couldn't swim.

 _'That would probably make him come in and try to drown me.'_ she thought desperately.

Finally she undressed and got in carefully, staying close to the edge of the pool, where it was shallow, altho the water still got to her neck. She took some time to clean herself, always with one hand on the bank to keep her from drifting away. When she turned around she was surprised to see Byakuya watching her.

"WHAT THE FUCK BYAKUYA?" she gagged as she swallowed some hot water.

"It took you forever so I thought you might have drowned. Hurry up, I do not have all day.".

"Get - the fuck - out!" she splattered, spitting the hot water. She turned around so that he wont see her flush, tho she suspected her crimson ears might give her away.

 _'How long has he been there? I hope he didn't see anything. Fucking pervert!'_ she thought _'not that there's much to see anyways'_. She was rather flat. She didn't really care about it because she thought that having a huge breast like that Rangiku can be a hindrance. As these thought passed her mind, she failed to hear the rustle of cloths and the gentle splash of water. As a result she almost jumped out of her skin when she heard Byakuya's voice close to her.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked quietly leaning against the same edge she did, about a meter away from her. Thankfully he bended his knees so that they were at the same height, also hiding something that should not be displayed in public.

"N-nothing! Don't get so close Byakuya!" she splattered and tried to get away from him, hugging herself with her hands. He caught her by the arm and she slipped, and held her up.

"Wha- let go!" she said frantically.

"Ill tell you what I am thinking about. I think you should stop using my first name. people might get the wrong impression, you see?" he said.

Kaya looked back at him. His tone was usual and he wasn't flushing even a bit. In fact his face was as blank as always.

 _'How can he be so calm in a situation like that?'_ Kaya thought. She could feel her face boiling red, and not from the hot water, 'Maybe he's gay...'.

"Wrong impression huh? I don't know about others but I'm getting some very fucking wrong impression here!" she said, tugging her hand away and thanking the heavens that he let go.

"I wanted to be sure to get your attention." he said offhandedly.

"Full attention my ass" Kaya said angrily "Wait a second! Did you plan to do this from the start?".

Byakuya stared at her for a long time before saying:

"Obviously. Did you not notice that I am already clean?" he pointed at his ear. It was not bloody anymore.

She gaped at him. He got a little closer to her and she backed away still hugging herself.

"So, did I make myself clear?" he asked.

When her back hit the other edge of the pool she said: "Painfully clear! Now can you stop that?".

"Are you embarrassed?" he asked quietly getting closer still.

"Yeah.." she mumbled quietly not daring to look away from his face.

He now placed his hands on the pool's edge at both sides of her head.

"Good. Remember what I said earlier about consequences. I think we are even, for now.".

After a moment he got away from her and got out of the pool.

"What the hell! Say something before you go out!" Kaya splattered.

"Get ready. The captains and their disciples will be here shortly." he said, taking a towel and drying himself.

when he got out fully clothed, he saw that Kyoraku was already there with his disciple. She was a young woman with pink hair and blue eyes. She had short shihakusho and knee length pink socks. She wore her ludicrously long zanpakto on here back with a pink strap holding it.

Byakuya disliked her the most out of all the other candidates, not that he was suppose to have any such feelings toward them. He didn't like the looks she gave him, nor the way she sometimes almost smeared herself on the captain of squad 8 much to the dismay of his lieutenant. She even once fluttered her eyelids at him. Byakuya definitely didn't like her.

"Ah! Kuchiki! It seems we are early." said the tall captain as Byakuya drew near them.

"So it would seem." Byakuya replied, not sparing a glance at the woman.

"Captain Kuchiki." she said bowing low.

Before any of them could say another word they heard a shout.

"Oi its you!" Kaya finally finished dressing and got out to join her captain. She pointed angrily at the pink-haired woman.

"Hmm? Soga chan do you know her?" Kyoraku asked wondering, placing a hand around her shoulders.

"Never seen her in my life captain Kyoraku" she said in a sweet voice.

Byakuya surpassed an urge to throw up. He turned to his pupil, praying to all the gods and devils in existence that the silly girl is not about to make a fool of herself and of him in front of the other captains.

"That's enough." he said quietly.

"Wha? She is one of the bastards that attacked me this morning!" Kaya bellowed putting a hand on her zanpakto.

They looked at each other for a minute, and then Kaya seemed to calm down. She let go of her zanpakto anyway.

"My my, you must be Otori Kaya chan. I heard you are a lively one." Kyoraku said in his chuckle-like voice.

Kaya crossed her hands and said:

"And you must be Shun- ah I mean captain Kyoraku" she added after a glance at Byakuya "I heard you are womanizer." Kaya said in an uncharacteristically polite tone.

The three looked at her slightly gasping and she added:

"So you've been taking baths together huh?" with a sly smile on her face.

"What? How dare you you little-" the pink haired Soga screamed red faced. Kyoraku let out a barking laugher.

"Ha ha you shouldn't believe everything you hear Otori chan, And if I'm not mistaken the others are here." he said and looked around.

A weak tingle of reiatsu in the air was the only announcement for the captains' arrival.

The most prominent figure was that of Komamura Sajin, captain of squad 7. The wolfish captain was accompanied by a tall man with long black hair. Kaya immediately recognized him as another one of her attackers. Next to them appeared the white haired captain of squad 13, Ukitake Jushiro, along with his candidate. He was slightly shorter then Byakuya, with tanned skin and had a long silky chocolate brown hair which was held up behind his head with what looked to be a pair of chopsticks. He didn't seem to carry zanpakto. Next appeared the short captain of squad 2, Soifon, accompanied by the third attacker, the silver haired ninja. Last appeared the weird boy, Shoji, with the blue umbrella but he was alone.

 _'No fucking way...'_ Kaya thought as she looked at the four people she met this morning.

"Good we are all here except... Where is captain Kurotsuchi?" said Ukitake, smiling at all the attenders.

"He said he will come, even if grudgingly." Byakuya said, looking questioningly at Shoji.

Shoji did a little cough and said in his dull voice:

"Captain Kurotsuchi decided that he doesn't have time for this kind of nonsense and wished you all a painful death for disturbing him." he frowned slightly, as if trying to remember the exact wording his captain used "He also said that if you are having trouble finding a gruesome enough method of dieing he is more then willing to help you.".

When he finished all the people present looked at him with their mouths opened.

"Well, that's... nice of him." Ukitake said, laughing weakly.

"If you don't mind captain Kuchiki, we will get on with the introduction. I also have better things to do." said soifon.

Before anyone else could talk Kaya stepped forward.

"No need to introduce anyone except for you." she said, pointing at the disciple of Ukitake, "The others I've met this morning as they bade me good day." there was a little sly smile on her face.

Komamura, Soifon and Ukitake looked confused, but Kaya continued.

"And you didn't seem to think it was important enough to bring your zanpakto with you huh, chopsticks?".

The tanned man looked slightly confused and said: "I don't know what you are so angry about, but I am Hajime Junichi of squad 13, student of Ukitake sensei. I do happen to carry my zanpakto." he shook his right sleeve slightly and a katana came sliding from it.

 _'What the crap?'_ Kaya thought 'How did it fit in his sleeve?'.

Komamura seem to inflate a little when he said "What do you mean you met the others, little one?".

"These three" Kaya said, pointing at the ones that ambushed her, "attacked me this morning and then ran away like shitty cowards!".

"I don't know what she's talking about captain." the tall man said serenely and lowered his eyes.

"Yeah, why would we want to attack you?" the pink haired woman called Soga asked in contempt as she took a small step toward Kaya.

"I don't know, you skedaddled after you ate my foot so I didn't have time to ask what the slurping sunshine do you want from me." Kaya muttered angrily thru clenched teeth, also taking a step closer.

"You have some serious hallucinations, shrimp." Soga muttered back. They were practically nose to nose now, glaring at each other with revulsion.

"Oh really?" Kaya snapped angrily, grabbing Soga by the neck of the shihakusho "Then how about we go at it right now? Lets see how brave you lamefucks are when its one on one!".

The moment Kaya touched her kimono, Soga's hand flew to the zanpakto swinging on her back. The tall black haired man and the ninja also made slight movements with their hands toward their weapons.

"What are you doing?" An angry whisper and a hand stopped her own from drawing her zanpakto.

Kaya look sideways and realized that it was Byakuya, she also noticed that Kyoraku also prevented his own student from drawing her sword.

"Enough! What is the meaning of this shameful behavior?" Komamura said, half growling, his fur rippling angrily. He shot a disapproving glare to his student, which dropped his hand at once.

"Maybe we should continue with the introduction." Ukitake said with an appeasing smile.

Byakuya gave Kaya a warning look, and she stepped away from Soga, raising her hands in the air to show that she accepted the "cease fire".

"Sorry, captain." she said, almost spitting the last word.

"Right..." Ukitake said, looking worriedly at Kaya, "Junichi kun had already introduced himself so..." He looked questioningly at Komamura and his student.

Komamura twitched his ears and nodded at his apprentice.

"Hayate Shigure, from squad 7. Nice to make your acquaintance." the tall black haired guy said politely and bowed his head a bit.

"Go on." Soifon said impatiently and pushed the ninja with her shoulder.

"Kohaku of squad 2." he said quietly.

 _'Wow you sure talk a lot.'_ Kaya thought.

The pink haired Soga steped forward "I am Tadashi Soga and I train under captain Kyoraku. If any of us wanted to attack you, which we don't, we wouldn't need to 'gang up' on you. each of us can take you on with both hands tied behind our back." she said loftily.

Kaya clenched her fists in anger. Kyoraku put his hands on Soga's shoulders and said "Easy girl...".

"Bring it on, cooter. I'm ready whenever you are." Kaya said glaring at Soga.

"I am Akamaru Shoji of squad 12. I train with captain Kurotsuchi, I guess." Shoji said in his dull voice.

"Yeah I know that, you helped me this morning and introduced yourself!" Kaya said looking at Shoji, who shrugged.

Ukitake smiled at her and said pleasantly "Its your turn to introduce yourself.".

She was still fuming from the fact that the dirty bastards denied that they attacked her so she let her tongue run free.

"I'm Otori Kaya from the 80th rukongai and I'm gonna be a captain long before any of you jagoffs. Next time we fight I'm gonna beat the fucking daylight out of you." she said crossing her hands defiantly, "Oh and I guess captain Kuchiki will give me some tips..."

They all stared, amazed, at her for a minute and then Kyoraku said:

"That's the spirit, Otori chan! But you should try and get along with the others. Sometimes we will send our pupil to practice with other pupil, so you should all be best friends! We are after all one big happy family!" in his marry voice.

Soifon said:

"Right, well I better get going." she said looking awkwardly at Kyoraku, "Lets go." she added to Kohaku who nodded, and they both disappeared.

Before anyone else could move Kaya drew her sword and said:

"Okay who's my opponent?" looking around at the remaining candidates.

"Your opponent?" asked Komamura slowly "This is a mere introduction, we all have business to attend to. We shall be going as well." he nodded to Byakuya and left. Shigure lingered a little, giving Kaya what looked like an apologizing look, before following his master.

Then Ukitake and Junichi said their farewell and left as well and Kyoraku neared Byakuya and said quietly:

"We will be going too, but maybe tomorrow we should send the girls for a little spar, should be interesting huh Kuchiki?" he smiled devilishly and nudged Byakuya with his elbow.

"If you say so." Byakuya said turning away and rolling his eyes.

When the pink duo disappeared and only Shoji and his blue umbrella remained Kaya said loudly "Best friends my ass. Why didn't you support me Shoji?" but he just shrugged again.

Byakuya looked at Shoji and said: "Shouldn't you be going as well?".

"Not really, captain Kuchiki. Captain Kurotsuchi is pretty busy today, you know, and he told me that unless I grow another head or something of the sort not to come bother him." he said dully.

"You are going back to the scroll." Byakuya said looking reproachfully at Kaya.

"Oh damn... I thought we will go back to fighting..." Kaya said sadly.

"You have had more then enough fighting for one day. And I don't want to hear any complaints from you until you can show a reasonable kido" Byakuya replied, starting to walk.

Kaya mumbled quietly to her self and then Shoji said:

"kido? I can help you with that, if thats okay with captain Kuchiki.".

Byakuya looked at the short boy for a minute before saying "Do as you wish." and flash stepped back to his squad.

"Jee thanks Shoji, but its so freaking boring, you sure you don't have other things to do?" Kaya asked.

"Yes I'm sure, and how come you call me Shoji, we just met today, you know." the boy replied, slightly puzzled.

"I call everyone by their given names so don't get all exited. Beside we are friends now!" Kaya said happily and slapped Shoji's shoulder "Hurry up we should get to the squad before Byakuya starts bitching that we are wasting his oh so important time." and with that she flash-stepped away.

"Friends huh? You are a weird fella, you know, Otori." Shoji mumbled to himself as he too flash-stepped away.

Byakuya arrived at his office a few minutes before Kaya. Renji was not there, he went on a hollow extermination at the 7th rukongai with some green squad members. When she finally got there, Kaya was panting and sweating and clutching her side.

"There is an empty room three doors down the hall, you can use it." he said to her.

"Ya ya I get it, Byakuya, you've seen to much of me today." she replied.

He gave her a slightly scornful look and she added "What? There's nobody here. I'm not gonna call you captain when we are alone. Sorry, I don't do titles.".

A moment later the she realized what she said and flushed as Byakuya said:

"Watch your words brat, people might get the wrong impression.".

"What wrong impression?" said a dull voice as Shoji appeared.

"Nothing damnit! cmon I still got a fucking kido to learn!" Kaya said loudly and left the room, dragging Shoji after her.

"Its flutter not fungi, flutter of wings, you know you've been saying it wrong for the last 45 minutes." Shoji said patiently.

"flutter, fungi, foster whats the ass-banging difference! Anyway this shit is boring as hell." Kaya said irritatedly.

"Its another word, thats the difference. It wont work if you change the incantation, you know?".

They set in a dark room, Shoji set on the floor, with the umbrella closed beside him and Kaya lie on her belly occasionally glancing at the incantation written on the scroll in front of her by the light of a single candle.

"Maybe if I had more bloody light I could read properly." Kaya said.

"I told you I can't stand strong light. Beside this candle is more then enough to read a little scroll. I think the problem is your reading, you know?" Shoji said, leaning backward on one hand and looking at Kaya.

The shadows cast from the tiny flame made his face look even more sickly and his eyes looked like sunken pits.

"Oh so you say I cant read? is that it, you jackass?" she yelled and got to her hands and knees.

"I didn't say that. Can't you read?" Shoji said in his dull voice, seemingly oblivious to Kaya's raising temper.

"O-Of course I can!" Kaya splattered frantically, "Can't you read?".

In the past 45 minutes she succeeded in producing no more then a faint puffs of smoke, and her temper ran high.

"I can..." Shoji said slowly.

"Then lets see you read this dicksplat in this darkness! Go on!" She said and pushed the scroll at Shoji.

"But I already know the incantation." Shoji tried to protest as Kaya shoved the scroll into his face.

"Just read it goddammit!"

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!".

When he finished he raised his hand toward the open window and said:

"Hado 31 shakkaho!" and a ball of red reiatsu formed at the palm of his hand and shot out to sky.

"What, thats it?" Kaya said disappointed, her shoulders drooping.

"Well... Yes.." Shoji said in confusion which did not reflect in his face.

"Sounds easy enough..." She mumbled quietly.

"Hm?" He looked at her, tilting his head a bit.

"Oh nothing! Ill try now, if you don't mind." she said quickly.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado 31 shakkaho!" she aimed her hand at the open window.

A small ball of reiatsu the size of an egg, formed on her palm, but it didn't shot like Shoji's.

"What are you doing? Shot it!" Shoji exclaimed, showing a sign of life for the first time since they met.

"Shit how? why wont it go?" Kaya yelled staring at the tiny ball of reiatsu and unable to help herself from feeling slightly annoyed that it was much smaller then Shoji's.

"Just throw it! Before it explodes!" he picked his umbrella and opened it, hiding behind it.

And she did. The tiny red reiatsu ball flew in a wide arc outside the window. They heard a small explosion and a yell of pain.

 _'Oops.'_ Kaya thought as she ran to the window. She looked out of the window and saw a small inner garden, usually used for short breaks by the squad members. It was a small lawn with two benches, plum tree and a birdbath. One of the benches was destroyed, probably by her lousy kido, and near it laid someone who looked as if he just fell off his bed. The young man wore a brown beanie that covered almost all of his vividly green hair. He got up and shouted:

"Hey whats the big idea bitch! Think its funny to attack me while I'm asleep? Huh? You wanna piece of me huh?".

Shoji came up to the window, shading his eyes with his hand.

"Your hat is on fire, you know?" he said pointing at the guy's head.

The guy yelled in dismay and took his smoking beanie off quickly revealing a mane of very messy green hair.

"Oi I know you, bastard! You are that slacker! I forgot your name..." Kaya said scratching her ear trying to remember.

"Slacker? Who are you calling slacker!" the green-haired yelled at her.

"Sakurai Ryo if you managed to get hit by that pathetic kido you probably had it coming." said a cold voice behind Kaya and Shoji.

"Oi! Byakuya don't come sneaking behind me!" Kaya exclaimed.

"I was not sneaking behind you. in fact my steps were very noisy. You were not paying attention." Byakuya replied.

"True..." Shoji said quietly, nodding "I heard him.".

"Say what?" She said irritably.

"What are you doing here Sakurai? You are suppose to be in the 7th rukongai with the other rookies." Byakuya said, ignoring Kaya and Shoji.

Ryo flinched and scratched his head vigorously, making his heair even messier.

"Well you see captain Kuchiki sir, they left without me so I thought ill just wait here for them to return.. ha ha.. They must have left earlier then I thought captain Kuchiki sir, so I missed them, I mean I wasn't late or anything!" he said very quickly.

Byakuya looked at him, not believing a word he heard.

"Knowing you, you probably overslept, and when you got here late, decided to take another nap, hoping to pass the day sleeping." he said.

"No no sir Kuchiki captain! Its not like that at all, really! you see I-" Ryo splattered again but Byakuya stopped him.

"I think I remember telling you not to show your preposterous hair in my presence. Your sloppy appearance is offending me".

Ryo's face went as green as his hair.

"Ah well I was sleep- I mean sitting here, captain sir, and then this dumbass" he pointed at Kaya "attacked me! So you see my hat got burned and-" but again Byakuya interrupted him.

"I'm considering transferring you to squad 4, Sakurai. There is no place for useless slackers in my squad."

Ryo's face went from green to white.

"But sir! Please ill do better I swear! I don't wanna clean toilets for the rest of my life! Captain Kuchiki I promise I wont slack off again-" he said quickly getting to his knees and bowing so low that his head hit the ground.

"Sakurai." Byakuya said.

The boy stopped gibbering and bowing and looked up at his captain, his eyes wet with tears.

"Get out of my sight." Byakuya finished.

"Yes sir captain Kuchiki ! Right away." and with a flash of green hair he was gone.

Byakuya turned away from the window and looked at the dark room.

"I see you have made some progress. However I would recommend you turn on the light, if you wish to read the incantation." he said.

"Its because of me, you see, I'm more comfortable in the dark, captain Kuchiki. And beside Otori san cant read so well so it really doesn't make any difference." Shoji said, withdrawing from the window.

Kaya turned on them and said angrily:

"Of course I can read jackass! And I told you not to call me Otori san! It sounds weird!".

"Otori chan?" Shoji offered, and then said "Hmm I don't think it would be appropriate you know..".

"just Kaya!" she splattered.

Byakuya left the room and went back to his office, still hearing their voices arguing.

"I call you Shoji, you call me Kaya!"

"But we just met today."

"So what! You are my friend so use my first name!"

"You use captain Kuchiki's first name, does that mean you..."

"Of course not you dummy! Using surnames is just weird that's all."

"People might get the wrong impression if you keep calling higher ups by their given names, you know?".

 

* * *

 

_"Say, brat, what's your name?" he asked, scanning her skinny, dirty and bruised form._

_She starred up at him, half meter shorter then him, the fear on her face replaced with some sort of determination._

_"Does it matter?" she asked, frowning tenaciously._

_"I suppose not." he said grinning slightly, and flexing his fingers._

_She starred at his hands. The hands that a minute ago ended the lives of some thugs as easily as one clicks his fingers. She was probably next, and she was already tired after escaping from those same thugs that laid dead on the street around them, so there was no reason to run. Anyway if this was who she thought it was, she would never outrun him._

_"Your name is what people use to classify you. Its like a label on a bottle. But if no one knows who you are, then the label is meaningless. A bottle of unknown poison is just another bottle of sake to the ignorant." He said while taking something from his sleeve._

_"If you survive, we will meet again. Then you can tell me your name. Until then, hold onto this with your life. If we will meet again and you wont have it... Ill kill you." he said smiling wickedly and revealed an unusually long fangs._


	8. The Quiet Before The Storm

Three days passed without any special events. Unless you are counting Kaya blowing up the empty room she and Shoji used to train kido, or burning a computer at the Research and Development Institute. She somehow managed to get away before Kurotsuchi finished shouting his head off that he will dissect her lungs, liver, heart and kidneys. Shoji told her she should stay away from the 12th squad until his captain found something interesting to pick his mind off her destroying his lab.

Kaya didn't run into any of the other candidates except Shoji, who still helped her training her kido. She didn't really miss them but she was burning with desire for revenge on the three who not only attacked her with no reason, but also denied it.

"You should just let it go, you know." Shoji said one afternoon after Kaya mentioned it during the lunch time.

"Let it go? I'm not letting it go for fucking sake! That pink bitch had the fucking nerve to say she could take me on one on one!" Kaya said seething with anger.

She took another handful of chocolate and rice candies, which served as her lunch, and chewed it angrily.

"I think what she actually said was: if any of us wanted t-" Shoji started, but Kaya stopped him abruptly.

"Yeah I remember what she said!" she said "My point is that I'm gonna wipe the floor with her sorry ass the next time I see her.".

Shoji took a bite from his umeboshi filled onigiri and surveyed Kaya with his sunken eyes.

"You really should eat something else beside candies, you know?" he said.

"I like candies and they are cheap. And you can eat them even after they go a little bad..." Kaya said "But don't change the subject!".

"You will have some serious bowel obstruction one day..." Shoji said, swallowing a mouthful of rice and plums and adding "life can be hard when Tadashi hates you, you should just avoid conflicts with her.".

"But why the crap does she hate me? I didn't do shit to her, yet. She picked on me and I'm not gonna fucking run away from her." Kaya said furiously.

"She probably hates you because you got captain Kuchiki as your master. I know she really wanted to be his apprentice, but he refused to take any at the time so she got to be captain Kyoraku's." Shoji said slowly.

His tone was now less dull then when they first met. Kaya suspected that during the last three days Shoji spoke more then during his entire life. She could see why people avoided him. He was simply too weird. Not only his pale skin and eyes or his red hair, or his weak and frail looking, not even his lack of fondness of strong light. It was probably the way he talks. He didn't have problem talking about anything, showing as much emotions as a toothbrush. He always talked in his normal tone, not embarrassed by unusual topics or fearing to talk about things he hadn't the slightest idea about. He reminded Kaya of Byakuya, the way his face didn't change even a bit when he talked, only that he was much more talkative then Byakuya. And he was much friendlier then her captain, who seemed to try to ignore her as much as he could during the past few days.

As she met Shoji more frequently he began showing signs of life. A small spark of emotion appeared on his thin face every now and then. Kaya thought that the poor kid was simply socially deprived.

Kaya let out a derisive laugh "Let me get this straight. Are you saying that Soga likes Byakuya? As in she would like to get laid by him?" she said starring at Shoji.

Shoji finished his onigiri and placed his empty bento aside.

"I'm not sure about getting laid, but she wouldn't say no to a kiss or even a hug, you know." he said thoughtfully.

Kaya made a disgusted noise and stared disbelieving at Shoji.

"That's gross! How do you know you that?" she asked.

"I heard her talking to Hayate the other day. They were hiding in the bushes near the place I was taking a nap." Shoji said shrugging.

"Ow that's disgusting! Are you saying she was doing Shigure, while telling him she wanted to do Byakuya?" Kaya said astonished.

"Hmm I think she said that Shigure was not up to captain Kuchiki's standard or something like that... And then they were making strange noises and-" Shoji said and Kaya stopped him.

"Okay I got the picture thanks." she said, making a revolted face, "Argh, grownups are so disgusting...".

"Anyway Tadashi hates you because captain Kuchiki rejected her but accepted you, you know." Shoji said shrugging again.

"I don't think he accepted me at all." Kaya said, also shrugging "The old geezer Genryusai probably forced him to take me. Say you spend an awful lot of time napping, isn't Mayuri training you at all?".

"Just once in a while... Mostly he injects me with some poison and lets me deal with it, you know... He says its a very important ability, to be able to resist various poisons and drugs..." Shoji said dully.

Kaya stared at Shoji and scratched he ear.

"That's just flipping sick." she said eventually.

"Not something that I wouldn't expect from the 12th squad captain." said a voice behind Kaya.

She turned around, hand on her zanpakto, and saw Byakuya standing watching the two of them.

"Break time is over, and Kurotsuchi says he wants his guinea pig back, Akamaru." he said, eying Shoji.

Shoji got up and took his bento.

"Then I better go back, captain Kuchiki." he said and bowed to Byakuya "See you later Kaya." he added looking at Kaya, and took off.

Kaya didn't get up. She rested her cheek on her hand and said "Great, now what I'm supposed to do?".

"Go back to your training of course." Byakuya said starting to walk back to his office.

"Hey Byakuya wait!" Kaya got up and yelled at him.

"I'm sick if this kido shit! Look I can do that fucking shakkaho now." she said and raised her hand.

"hado 31 shakkaho!".

The ball of red reiatsu missed Byakuya by at least 2 meters and hit the wall.

Byakuya turned around and looked at the crater on the wall where the kido hit.

"Oops.." Kaya said quietly "I missed".

"Are you going to pay for the damage your ludicrous kido caused?" Byakuya said quietly.

"Of course not. Its your squad so you should pay for fixing it. And I'm your apprentice so that means I'm your responsibility." Kaya said with a sly grin, "Besides I barely have enough money to pay the rent..."

"Mind your mouth little brat. Its not too late for me to abandon this irritating mentorship." Byakuya said.

"Yeah, yeah what ever you say Byakuya. What I'm trying to say is that you've been avoiding me the last few days. Time for some real training!" Kaya said angrily.

She drew her zanpakto saying "Jump between, Hiraishin" And with the trench knife in her hand she lunged at him yelling "You are wide open!".

He blocked her zanpakto with his own and pointed with his index finger between her eyes.

"hado 4" he said. Kaya startled and closed her eyes, expecting a piercing pain to shoot thru her head, but nothing happened.

"You are the one who's wide open. That attack was pathetic and reckless. Withdraw your sword, if you can call that thing a sword." Byakuya said.

Kaya opened her eyes. She felt angry and humiliated. And she wasn't going to let this go.

"You can call that dancing pink honeybee if you like, but I'm not withdrawing anything. We are going to fight right now!" she said angrily and trying to push his sword away.

When she failed she jumped back and said "Raikiri!" and aimed a punch at his zanpakto. The pale yellow markings on her right glove glowed and blue electricity surged around her hand and zanpakto.

Byakuya knew this attack was potentially dangerous so he braced himself, and with a strong swing of his sword, knocked the zanpakto out of her hand.

Thinking that the attack would stop with that, Byakuya lowered his sword but was surprised to see the lightning still surging around her hand. She aimed another punch at him, and he raised his hand pointing at her.

"Byakurai." he said, aiming at her right hand.

She opened her hand to block the ray of reiatsu almost instinctively, and looked as surprised as Byakuya felt when for a second it seemed to work. Byakuya remembered how she blocked his byakurai three days ago with her electrified zanpakto, but bare handed?

 _'It would seem that the lightning is generated from the glove and not from the knife.'_ he thought.

But a second later the blue ray of his reiatsu broke thru. Drops of blood splattered from her injured right hand and a cry of pain escaped her mouth as she fell to her knees. Byakuya knew it wasn't from his attack. That injury was shallow. It was from the powerful current that escaped thru the hole in the glove and surged thru her body.

"That is the second time you got hit by your own thunder. You should be more careful when using that attack." He said, looking down at her.

He sheathed his sword and walked away.

"Oi I'm not done yet!" Kaya said loudly and got up.

* * *

 

_"Careful, you might hurt yourself." He said mockingly, looking down at her._

_She just tried using the new technique she learned but it backfired. Again. Her whole body ached from the shock and the tips of her fingers were slightly numb. She picked up her fallen weapon with her bare left hand and looked at the palm of her right hand, which was covered with dark blue glove._

_She concentrated all of her reiatsu into her right palm, squeezing every last bit of energy she had in her body, until the faint yellow marks on the glove started glowing._

_As bright blue lightning started dancing in her palm, she felt her head starting to spin and her vision blured._

_"You should be careful when you use that technique, it leaves you vulnerable." He sneered and kicked her hand aside, ignoring the mass of energy around it._

* * *

"Whats all this noise about?" said a voice.

Kaya looked around and saw a short boy with spiky white silver hair looking slightly annoyed.

"None of your assbanging business shorty, get lost!" Kaya said and turned back to Byakuya, who looked at the "intruder".

And then she turned back to the silver haired boy, who's face were red, and then back to Byakuya, and back to the boy.

"Shorty? How dare you! Its captain Hitsugaya!" the short boy said angrily.

Only then Kaya made the connection. The boy was wearing the same white garment above the normal shinigami uniform, like Byakuya.

 _'Come to think about it, I think all the captains I saw wore this thing...'_ she thought, looking at the fuming boy.

"Hitsugaya? Hey you must be the piggy Byakuya told me about." Kaya said finally.

"Piggy?" Hitsugaya splattered, looking at Byakuya.

"Prodigy, you fool, not piggy." Byakuya said, slightly annoyed at the poor courtesy his protege showed the young captain, as well as himself.

"Right sorry prodigy." Kaya said, not looking even slightly abashed as she went to pick up her zanpakto.

"Nothing interesting here, Hitsugaya. Just a foul-mouthed brat with too much spare energy." Byakuya said.

"I see.. I was on my way to ask if you already read the report from the rukongai special patrol and felt some bursts of reiatsu and thought... Oh well.." Hitsugaya said.

"No, I have not finished reading the report." Byakuya said.

"I see... Well ill be off." Hitsugaya said and turned away.

"Hey shorty! Whats-your-name come and fight me!" Kaya shouted after him, waving the zanpakto in her left hand.

Hitsugaya turned around angrily and shouted back at her "Its Hitsugaya Toshiro you idiot! And I'm a captain! I don't have time, nor do I want to fight you!".

"Oh yeah? Well I heard you are a prodigy, Toshiro! You are suppose to be pretty good... If you are afraid to fight me that's okay.. I'm gonna be captain soon.." Kaya said with a swagger.

"Captain..? Kuchiki is that your protege?" Hitsugaya asked, unable to believe that the honorable Kuchiki would take someone so... uncivilized like this girl as his apprentice.

"Yes" Byakuya said, almost mournfully "Want her? I'm more then willing to give her away.".

"What? I'm not gonna be apprenticed by that shorty, and I'm not yours to give away in the first place!" Kaya said loudly.

Hitsugaya forced his face into a calm expression and said "No thanks. I already got a silly woman I need to look after, I don't need another one".

"Oi captain who are you calling silly woman?" said annoyed girlish voice.

Matsumoto appeared behind her captain and looked scornfully at him.

"You of course, and why are you following me?" Hitsugaya grunted.

"I'm not following you. You didn't return after the break was over, so I went looking for you." said Matsumoto.

Kaya remembered her as the one who laughed the hardest during her first fight against Byakuya. She lunged at her aiming a punch with the zanpakto in her left hand. But a second before she reached her target, Kaya felt a tug at the collar of her uniform. She looked around and saw Byakuya holding her suspended in mid air.

"That's enough." he said.

"Hey whats with you, jumping on people, Otori chan?" Matsumoto asked, looking offended.

"I've got a fucking score to settle with you!" Kaya said angrily waving her zanpakto.

"Hmm really?" Matsumoto said, looking confused.

"I think you got a score to settle with half of soul society." Hitsugaya said dully "Lets go Matsumoto.".

And they both disappeared.

"Let me down Byakuya!" Kaya said angrily.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you." Byakuya said, still holding her in the air.

She disappeared, then reappeared at the mark she left where her zanpakto fell earlier.

"Why didn't you let me fight them?" she said still angry.

"It would have been highly embarrassing for me if you were to make a fool of yourself." Byakuya said turning to look at her.

"Say what? Now we are going to fight! I have done nothing but repeat those stupid incantations for the past 3 days. I'm sick of this, I want some action!" Kaya said irritably.

Byakuya starred at her for a long moment. It would seem that this girl had way to much steam stored up, and had to release some of it. However he didn't have time to play with her now. The report from the 80th rukongai patrol team just returned. There was something very troubling about the report. It says that a lot of the citizens that were asked regarding the recent killing mentioned something about an asura, or something like that.

"I don't have time now, I have to read some reports about a red demon in the 80th rukongai. Go to the 4th squad to fix your hand, and if ill finish until you return, we will have a little spar." he said.

The girl stared at him in with a strange expression. It was shock combined with... fear?

"Niiro Ashura?" she said very quietly.

"What did you say?" Byakuya said, slightly surprised. He seemed to recall seeing the words "Niiro Ashura" in the report, but didn't have time to fully read it.

"Nothing, ill go to the 4th squad." she said quickly and disappeared.

Byakuya stayed after she disappeared, slightly confused, wondering what was that about.

 _'It cant be him. I must have heard wrong... Or I'm imagining things... there must be lots of red demons.'_ Kaya thought franticly as she made her way to the 4th squad.

 _'I mean, its been more then 3 months... He must have forgotten... Or decided to leave me alone. And even if it is him, he will never find me here... He will never make it into the seireitei...'_ her trail of thoughts continued.

"Eh excuse me can I help you?" a weak voice asked.

"Huh?" Kaya said looking up.

She got to the 4th squad without noticing, and looking at her questioningly was the 7th seat of squad 4, Yamada Hanataro.

"Oh its you Kaya san. I haven't seen you here in a while." Hanataro said in his stupid voice.

"Yeah so what, you missed me Hanataro? Wheres Retsu san?" Kaya asked.

"Er" Hanataro started but before he could continued Kaya talked loudly again.

"Go and tell her I'm here. And hurry up wimp! I don't have all day!" she said punching Hanataro on the shoulder.

"Err bu-but hmm y-you see, err captain Unohana is b-busy now." Hanataro wailed trying to get away from Kaya.

"Just go and call her you dumbshit!" Kaya said aiming a kick at Hanataro's leg.

"P-please d-don't do that Kaya san! If you n-need healing again, I c-can d-do that, t-there's no need t-to bother captain Unohana-" Hanataro chocked, tears in his eyes.

"Will you stop whimpering you stu-" Kaya started yelling at him and kicked his leg again, making him trip over his face.

"Now now, while it is good to be energetic, please remain quiet and refrain from hitting squad members inside the hospital, Kaya." said a cheery voice.

Kaya looked up and saw Unohana looking at her and Hanataro, smiling.

"Retsu san!" Kaya said loudly and happily.

Its been a while since she had a chance to talk to the 4th squad captain. When she was at the academy, Kaya was sent to the 4th squad for medical treatment almost every other day. But now that she graduated, she didn't have a chance to go visit the 4th squad, and whenever she happened to glimpse her favorite captain, Kaya noticed she was in a hurry. She concluded that as the head of the medical and supply division, the captain of squad 4 didn't have much spare time.

 **"please remain quiet, Kaya."** Unohana said in that intimidating manner that scared the living daylight out of anyone who heard it.

"Err yes ma'am" Kaya said quietly.

"Off you go, 7th seat Yamada." Unohana dismissed Hanataro.

Hanataro jumped to his feet, bowed to his captain, said "Yes ma'am." and scampered away.

"You seem to be in a good shape, Kaya. What brings you here?" Unohana asked Kaya after Hanataro disappeared.

"Well I injured my hand." Kaya said, showing Unohana her palm which stopped bleeding. "And it interferes with my shikai, so I thought Ill ask you to fix me up before I fight Byakuya again.".

"You should show more respect to captain Kuchiki. It won't do to start your master-pupil relationship in such a bad manner." Unohana said gently, taking Kaya's hand in her own.

Kaya made a sour face and said "He treats me like trash.".

"I'm sure you treat him just as badly, if not worse. Don't forget that he is the head of one of the 4 great noble families, and your captain. These are only 2 of the many reasons I can give you to respect him. Try it, I promise life will be much easier that way." Unohana said kindy.

While she talked she examined Kaya's bloody palm. She wiped the blood gently with a clean cloth she produced from her sleeve and revealed a closed and half recovered wound.

"It seem there is not much for me to do, as usual." She said gently and smiled at Kaya.

"I guess not." Kaya said and smiled back, "But I got to have some excuse to come visit you, right?".

"I told you that you don't have to get yourself hurt just to have come and see me. I can always make some time for you." Unohana said with such a gentle sincerity, that Kaya felt tears form in the corners of her eyes.

"Cheers Retsu san. I really appreciate it." Kaya said flexing her fingers and smiling at Unohana.

"Good day Kaya, and don't forget to behave yourself." Unohana smiled at the young girl.

Kaya smiled shyly and scratched her ear.

"Ill try" she said sheepishly, and left the 4th squad.

Kaya made her way back to squad 6 in a much better mood then when she left her squad. Talking with Unohana usually had that effect on her.

It was thanks to Unohana that Kaya entered the academy. And even tho Kaya didn't know that, it was also Unohana who suggested that Kaya graduate early and be assigned under captain Kuchiki Byakuya. In the academy, Kaya passed her time cursing anyone who looked at her, fighting anyone who answered her, and skipping classes to visit the 4th squad. It was only a matter of time before someone really got hurt. Kuchiki seemed the best choice because the alternatives were Zaraki Kenpachi and Hitsugaya Toshiro. It was decided that captain Hitsugaya was still too young and growing in power himself, to take a student. As for captain Zaraki, it has been agreed by all the people present at the room, which included Yamamoto Genryusai, Unohana Retsu and 3 of Kaya's instructors from the academy, that if Zaraki Kenpachi would mentor the girl, it would mean certain death.

And so the only one left was Kuchiki Byakuya, who happened to be the complete opposite of the girl in every possible way.

"Opposites attract." concluded the head-captain.

Of course none of these things were told to the captain of squad 6. In fact, the only people who knew the true reasons that the cheeky, unrefined, discourteous Otori Kaya was to be taught by the secluded, law abiding, noble Kuchiki Byakuya, were the captains of squads 1 and 4.

As she skipped cheerfully from rooftop to rooftop Kaya glimpsed a flash of pink on the ground, and a second later found her way blocked by the pink haired Tadashi Soga.

"Outta my motherfucking way, Soga." Kaya said stopping in front of the person she hated most of all at the moment.

"Look at you, thinking you are all high and mighty. What makes you think you can use my first name you little squirt?" Soga said in a snooty voice.

"What makes you think you can just block my fucking way like that, bitch?" Kaya said, trying to sound careless. She didn't want to get angry again.

"How dare you talk to me like that you filthy rat! I cant understand why captain Kuchiki agreed to teach you. You are unworthy of his grace. And you shame us, the other candidates, by thinking you are on our level." Soga bellowed at Kaya.

"Say what? Get out of my way, I've got a noble ass waiting to be kicked. Unless you want to be kicked instead?" Kaya said starting to walk on but Soga grabbed her shoulder and leaned in so that they were almost nose to nose.

"Don't you dare talk about captain Kuchiki like that you shrimp, You don't deserve to breath the same air as him." Soga said in a quiet voice "You don't seem to get the message so ill tell you very clearly. You are out of your league".

Before Soga finished talking Kaya noticed, to late, that the blade of a long zanpakto was now resting on her throat. Most of the blade was still in the sheath, which was still hanging on Soga's shoulder. With one slash, Soga could slit her throat.

Kaya's instincts kicked in. In an instant she drew her zanpakto and backed away by kicking Soga in the stomach, gracefully avoiding the blade.

"Jump between, Hiraishin!" Kaya said quickly.

As her shikai formed, she did a back cartwheel, placing a mark on the roof.

Soga looked up, enraged, at Kaya and drew the zanpakto halfway out of the sheath.

"Tear the ground below my feet, Haouryuu!" she said.

The sheath was gone now. The katana Soga held now was 2 meters long. Its blade was wider then that of a normal katana and it had spikes coming out of the blunt side. The texture of the blade also changed, it now resembled a bone more then steel. The hilt of the zanpakto was also unusually long, Kaya noticed as Soga held the sword with both hands.

She held the sword above her head and slammed it down forcefully, shouting "Tempenchii!"

The ground was torn under Kaya's legs. She jumped instinctively to the next building and saw that the one she stood on a second earlier has lost half of its roof. But there was no time to rest. Soga was coming at her with another attack. Kaya dodged the blade by side stepping it and intended to kick her opponent but she was hit by the shock wave of the attack. She fell sideways and saw the blade coming from the side. She rolled backward, landing gracefully on the wrecked roof.

 _'Some sort of shock wave attack...'_ Kaya thought as Soga regained her balance _'Probably useless in the air.'_.

When the next attack came Kaya jumped high and landed in mid air.

"Look at all the mass you've done!" Kaya yelled tauntingly at Soga "Its no good if you cant hit me!".

Soga looked up at Kaya, her face contorted with rage. And then she smiled wickedly.

"Burn the sky above my head!" she said and slashed the zanpakto upward.

"Are you st-" Kaya began, but the rest of her words were swallowed by a roaring flaming reiatsu.

 _'What the fuck? Two shikai?'_ Kaya thought as she fell.

She managed to topple over and land on her feet. She looked up at Soga, who had a wide smirk on her face.

She noticed that the zanpakto changed color. It was now red instead of pearly white.

"Color changing zanpakto? Suits you." Kaya said quietly, her anger building up.

"What did you say squirt? I couldn't hear you from down on the ground." Soga said smugly.

"I said that you are a big fucking bitch!" Kaya yelled, her ears pulsing in rage, the last attack ignited her anger.

She then pointed her open palm at Soga's legs and said "hado 31 shakkaho!".

The ball of red reiatsu hit the ground two meters away from its target and exploded, causing a lot of smoke and dust to engulf Kaya.

"What are you aiming at you stupid rat! Tempenchii!" Soga shouted and slashed with her zanpakto, causing a vertical wave of fire to shot from the blade.

"Your back." said a small voice behind Soga.

And Kaya put all her strength and slashed at Soga's back.

Soga cried out loudly as the blood splashed from her wound. She stabbed her sword into the ground and leaned on it, looking at Kaya who stood behind her.

"But, how? You were there..." Soga said, slightly whimpering.

She looked at the place where the smoke was clearing now.

"Why didn't I hit you!" Soga cried.

"Ill tell you why" Kaya said, her eyes red with rage. The place she was a few seconds ago was pulverized and scorched. Had she got hit by that last attack, she would have probably got seriously hurt. That attack was meant to hurt, to kill. She managed to get away by jumping to the mark she left earlier on the other roof.

Kaya raised her right hand, gripping her zanpakto tightly and letting the reiatsu flow into her hand.

"Its because you are out of your league." Kaya said in a quiet deadly tone.

Her blood boiled in rage. Everything around her was gone except for her enemy, her prey. Nothing mattered besides capturing and killing, erasing the existence of that bothersome thorn in her side.

Blue lightning covered her hand now, emitting sparks and crackling dangerously.

"Raikiri!" Kaya said raising her hand and lunged at the pink haired woman that stood frozen in shock clutching her zanpakto.

Then Kaya felt a hand close on her left elbow. Instinctively she turned around and aimed her right fist at whoever it was that grabbed her. Kaya expected her hand to rip thru flesh and bones and feel hot blood splatter her skin. But her hand stopped in mid air. In fact it stopped an inch from an open palm which emitted high density spiritual energy. Kaya looked up and thru the blood dazed screen that covered her vision she recognized the person who stopped her.

It was Byakuya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haouryuu is some variation of "Tyrannosaurus Rex". Soga's zanpakto. Odachi in its sealed form.
> 
> Tempenchii means "natural disaster" or "cataclysm".


	9. The Demon Outside And The Demon Within

_...locals refuse or unable to give clear details. It was hard to convince most of them to even talk about the recent deaths. It sounds like something that everyone knows about but are too afraid to mention aloud. In the rare occasions we managed to get people to talk, a few words repeated themselves. 'ashura' and 'demon' were the most prominent. We even heard someone mention 'niiro ashura'. We are unsure however if its a person, an object, a hollow or even a local fairy tale._

_When inspecting the places where the murders occurred we noticed one_ _remarkable_ _thing in common to all the scenes. There were no traces of reiatsu what so ever. We scanned the entire area around the place and could trace no abnormal reiatsu at all. When we checked with the patrol teams that were at the areas at the time, no team could report sensing any abnormal reiatsu during the time of the patrol._

_To conclude the report, the only certain fact we have is that the killer is using a sharp weapon. No attack pattern discovered and no specific time for killing._

_We are staying in the rukongai to continue investigate._

_End of report from 80_ _th_ _rukongai special patrol team._

Byakuya finished reading the report and placed it on the desk. He frowned slightly. The report was pretty long yet all it seemed to say is that the team have in fact discovered absolutely nothing about the killings after two days of investigation.

 _'The killer is using a sharp weapon'_  Byakuya thought angrily  _'_ G _ood thing your training haven't been wasted.'_.

As for the "ashura" Byakuya didn't think too much about it. The common people tended to come up with fancy stories for every event that they couldn't explain or understand. Giving form and name to things they didn't know and couldn't see gave the simple minded mob an illusion that they knew more then they actually did.

He wondered if he should replace the officers he sent to the special patrol team. He wasn't sure if to send a more capable person, or someone he didn't want to see like that sloppy good-for-nothing Sakurai.

As he thought of useless shinigami in his squad he began to wonder where the havoc-wrecking protege of him was. It shouldn't take someone who could use flash steps such a long time to go to the 4th squad and come back, especially since she had the annoying tendency to travel in straight lines, regardless of buildings that stood in her way. The healing itself shouldn't take long as well, it was a minor injury after all.

Then he felt a sharp shock of reiatsu. It wasn't the strength of the reiatsu that startled him. It was the fact that this reiatsu felt at the same time both familiar and alien. He concentrated for a moment on the reiatsu and realized that it belonged to none other then his one and only havoc-wrecking protege. However it was strangely distorted, deformed. He was so alarmed by the sheer wickedness he sensed, that a second later he flesh stepped out of the window, another second and he saw a flash of blue lightning on the roof of one of the big storehouses. The roof of a storehouse nearby has been demolished. Less then three seconds after he left his office he caught the girl's elbow and stopped the Raikiri that otherwise would have punctured his lung. He concentrated a massive amount of reiatsu into the palm of his hand to stop the strike, slightly taken aback by the killing intent behind it. The thing that looked up at him was not his havoc-wrecking protege. It was a blood-thirsty creature with red eyes. The eyes weren't bloodshot or had blood spilled on them. The iris was blood red.

"Leave." Byakuya said to the now crying Soga.

"Oh my god, captain Kuchiki! Thanks heaven you are here, this freak attacked me out of nowhere and I think she was trying to kill me an-" Soga cried in a slimy voice.

"I'm not going to repeat myself." Byakuya said not looking at Soga.

Soga jumped to her feet, sealed he zanpakto and hurried away.

"You are not getting away!" the girl screamed, spitting in rage, her voice strangely hoarse.

She tried to kick him but he blocked. Her electrified right hand was stuck to his, and the other he held tightly.

"Let go! I'm gonna fucking kill her!" the thing in Byakuya's hands screamed again.

"Calm down." he said quietly.

"I'm gonna kill the fucking bitch! I'm gonna slice her to tiny pieces and stew them in her blood!" the girl croaked and trashed.

Byakuya released her left elbow and drew his sword, infusing it with his reiatsu to increase its cutting edge, and quickly slashed a wide hole in her right glove. He expected to see her fall to her knees again, stunned by the lightning energy, but she didn't. Instead the blue lightning crackled even stronger and now it covered her whole body. She grabbed his blade with her free left hand and a strong current run thru it. Byakuya was surprised to feel the lightning coursing from the blade to his hand, jolting his entire body. The sword vibrated painfully in his hand, making it feel like he closed his hand on a handful of thorns.

He released her right hand and punched her hard, making her spit blood. A second later he felt a sharp pain in his stomach that told him she took advantage of him releasing her zanpakto-holding hand to stab him. Ignoring the pain from the powerful current, he caught her wrist, twisted it mercilessly until she released the blade and let it fall to the ground. He then punched her in the face again and she was sent flying backward. The electric current stopped but his body still tingled from the thundering reiatsu.

Only then he felt the twisted reiatsu subsiding, to be replaced by the normal reiatsu the girl emitted.

The girl was lying motionless on her back, blood gushing out of her nose.

 _'Perhaps I overdid it?'_ Byakuya thought as he picked up her zanpakto after sheathing his own and stepped closer to the seemingly unconscious body.

He immediately disregarded that thought as he carefully touched his stomach where she stabbed him and suppressed a grunt of pain.

As he got closer he saw that her eyes where open and she was glaring angrily up at the sky. He noticed that her eyes returned to their normal green color.

"She tried to kill me." Kaya said quietly, averting her eyes to Byakuya who was now towering above her.

"What was that reiatsu?" Byakuya asked in his usual tone.

He had never felt anything like it. It was such a dense and powerful reiatsu, maybe even captain level. What made Byakuya shiver was not the immensity of it but the sheer wickedness of it. He was reminded of Kurosaki Ichigo transforming sporadically into a hollow, but it was completely different. This reiatsu definitely belonged to a shinigami. However he never met a shinigami with such a heinous reiatsu. The only person he could think to compare it to was the captain of squad 11. But even the barbaric Zaraki Kenpachi could not match the malevolence of it. Zaraki liked fighting, and nothing else. If he decided that his opponent was too weak to satisfy his hunger for battle he usually got bored and let the poor soul walk away. This vile spiritual pressure gave off nothing less then blood lust. It came from someone who was willing to cut anyone and anything for the sake of seeing the flesh being reaped apart, the bones shattered, the blood splattering the ground.

"She tried to kill me Byakuya!" Kaya yelled, sitting up and raising her still gloved right hand, only to find it empty.

She didn't even notice that she dropped her zanpakto. The hand seemed unharmed, which amazed Byakuya since he was sure that he broke the wrist when he twisted it, even the slash he made was gone. He also noticed that despite the fact that her cloths were burned and torn, the girl sustained no visual injury.

"I asked you a question." Byakuya said.

"Fuck it she started! She attacked me and she did all the damage!" Kaya said still yelling.

She wiped the blood from her nose and jumped to her feet.

"Don't raise your voice with me, brat, and answer my question." Byakuya said coldly.

"What the flying shit are you talking about?" Kaya said still shouting, and starting to get really frustrated.

"You used some strange reiatsu and almost killed Tadashi." Byakuya said, eying her closely.

"Say what? I used my own freaking reiatsu! And she was the one who tried to fucking kill me! I was only defending myself goddammit!" Kaya said loudly clenching her fists.

"It didn't look very defensively from where I was looking. You were completely out of control, brat." Byakuya said slightly angry now.

Kaya flinched a little. She was reminded the way  _he_ always called her "brat".

"Will you stop calling me that? And I don't know where you've been looking from but I was  _not_  out of control." Kaya snapped at Byakuya, forcing herself to calm down.

"I don't know where you learned self defense, but that" Byakuya said and pointed at his belly "was  _not_ self defense.".

Kaya looked where he pointed. There was a hole in his uniform and thru it she could see a rather deep and still bleeding, wound.

She stared at the wound, not saying anything. Byakuya thought she looked fairly surprised. When she finally looked up at him there was a strange questioning in her eyes. He held up her bloodstained zanpakto in front of her face.

She stared at the small bloody blade with wide eyes. There was something close to fear on her face. She didn't say anything. Just then a shadow fell on them both.

"Say, where did he go?" said Zaraki Kenpachi who towered over Byakuya, with Yachiru on his shoulder.

"Neh neh who were you fighting Byakun?" the tiny lieutenant twittered.

"What do you want?" Byakuya asked not looking at the captain of squad 11.

"Eh? Are you deaf? Or are you just stupid? I asked where did he go? The guy you were fighting a few minutes ago." Zaraki said.

"I wasn't fighting anyone. It would seem that your observing ability is even worse then I thought." Byakuya said.

"What did you say? I felt some interesting reiatsu over here and this place is wrecked! I was hoping to find a strong opponent but no one's here but you and that insect." Zaraki said glancing at Kaya who looked at him angrily.

Byakuya was not in the mood for the vulgar captain's pointless jabbering so he said, pointing in the direction of the nearest gate out of seireitei, "He ran that way, saying something about the 57th rukongai. He is tall with long blue hair and long ears. You cant miss him, that is if you can catch up to him...".

"Go go ken-chan!" Yachiru squealed pointing in the direction Byakuya did.

With a wicked smirk the giant captain took off.

"Long ears?" Kaya said quietly after Zaraki disappeared.

She made to snatch her zanpakto from Byakuya's hand but he moved it out of her reach.

"That will keep him busy for a while." Byakuya said and turned away "Lets go.".

"Go where?" Kaya asked, but Byakuya was already gone.

The reason Byakuya decided to go somewhere else was because Zaraki wasn't the only one who was drawn to the battle scene. People were starting to gather at the bottom of the two wrecked storehouses, but they didn't worry Byakuya. He wanted to get away from the other captains who lurked nearby. Unohana, Ukitake and Hitsugaya all were probably alerted by the twisted reiatsu, just like the barbarian and himself. He was glad that they did not interfere but still wanted to be sure to be out of their earshot when the girl finally explain what happened. He intended to get an explanation, one way or another. And if he had to get that explanation the other way, he preferred doing it in a place where people would not interrupt, especially the other captains. He could think of only one place.

He came to a halt at the front gate of the Kuchiki family manor. He heard the girl also halting behind him and started walking toward the gate.

The gate opened when he approached and 4 guards stood bowing at the sides. Servants approached but he told them he did not want to be interrupted and dismissed them. He looked back to see if the girl was still following him and saw her starring around with her mouth slightly open. He led her thru the entering grounds past the Koi filled lake, long corridors and gardens, wondering if they should go to his own room. He dismissed that thought immediately. He  _did not_  want that brat in his own privet bedroom.

So he took her to one of the many unused rooms. He mentioned her to sit, and after closing the door and lighting some candles did the same.

When he sat she asked "So, what is this place?".

Byakuya blinked and starred at her.

"My home, of course." he said.

"Say what? All this is yours?" Kaya gasped.

Byakuya didn't say anything and kept looking at her, wondering if she was playing stupid.

"Pretty big." Kaya said after a moment's silent.

"How observant." Byakuya said, a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

"I mean big as in fucking enormous" Kaya sniggered "looks expensive.".

"It is." Byakuya said, hoping she would get the hint and wont go berserk and ruin the place.

Not that he had problem paying for fixing the place, he just didn't want his privet sanctuary to be damaged. The thought of this brat running amok in the halls of his honorable family made his throat dry.

"I didn't know you were  _that_  rich, Byakuya." Kaya said with a lopsided smile.

He starred at her, wondering if she was trying to tease him.

"As head of one of the four great noble clans it means that I am one of the richest people in soul society." Byakuya said rather dully "You probably know that as my disciple, as well as a sentient being.".

"Well, I knew you were rich... But hmm, well not that rich." Kaya said scratching her ear.

"Sometimes your obtuseness knows no bound." Byakuya said dryly fighting an urge to roll his eyes.

"Oh yeah? Well you-" Kaya said, but stopped and, making a sour face, said "Whats ab-too-sness?".

Unable to fight the powerful urge anymore, Byakuya yielded and let his eyes roll.

"It means you are stupid." he said sighing, cursing the annoying brat for affecting him in a way that no one did in many years.

"Say what"? Kaya blurted, leaning forward angrily.

"Alright that's enough stalling. I want to know what happened to you back at there." Byakuya said, ignoring her sulky glare.

"I told you what happened." Kaya said quietly, not looking at him "Soga attacked me and I defended myself. Not my fault she is weaker then me...".

"That is not what I meant." Byakuya said quietly.

The girl was definitely  _not_  stronger then Tadashi Soga, who was probably the second strongest among the candidates, surpassed only by Hajime Junichi who was a very rare prodigy. A genius among geniuses. The power that brat used to defeat Tadashi was far beyond her capability.

She didn't answer, but kept looking everywhere but at him.

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes.

"I want to know how you radiated such a vile reiatsu, because it was not your own. For a while you lost your mind and preformed feats far beyond your ability." Byakuya said quietly, choosing his words carefully.

He tried to take another approach, one that wouldn't make the girl feel she was being accused of something.

"Your eyes turned red." he added after she didn't say anything but kept looking away.

When these words left his mouth something sort of clicked into place in his head. The reports about the red demon. Hadn't the girl said the name mentioned in the reports? She came from the 80th rukongai. A mysterious spiritual pressure that disappears and leaves no traces...

"Do you want your zanpakto back?" Byakuya said, discarding the plan to get answers from her in a nice way seeing that she didn't respond at all. Once again he held the tiny blade up in front of her.

Instantly she made to grab it, as Byakuya hoped she would. He swiped it away from her reach and grabbed her still gloved hand, twisted it slightly until she lost her balance and sent her falling on her back. He swiftly shifted his position and was now sitting straddled on her chest, crushing her lungs. He grabbed both her wrists in one hand and pinned them above her head.

"Oi what the fuck?" Kaya chocked, trying to wriggle away from him.

"I don't appreciate being ignored." Byakuya said.

"Well I don't appreciate being pinned down between someone's legs!" Kaya said weakly, gasping for air.

"What happened to you back there?" Byakuya said, ignoring her protests.

The girl struggled to push him with her legs and tried to pull her hands free. "Get off! Don't touch me!" She groaned desperately, shaking her head frantically from side to side.

"Enough!" He said sharply, gripping her throat to stop her frenzied movements.

The moment his fingers touched her neck she froze, her eyes bright, starring at him in stunned terror.

"I am not going to hurt you." He said quietly, unable to shake off the feeling that she was looking, not at him, but at someone else.

He became aware that she was shaking violently underneath him. He relaxed his grip on her throat and noticed that the skin under his fingers was rough and coarse, as tho it have been injured and healed many times. He released her neck completely and the shaking stopped, altho the fear did not entirely disappeared from her eyes.

He lifted his weight off her a bit so she can breath properly, but he did not release her hands.

She took a deep breath, her body still a little tensed but she did not struggle anymore. She looked up at him with such a sad round eyes that for the first time since they met he saw not a lawless rascal but a pitiful innocent child who's existence until now has been a cruel and miserable mimicry of life.

 _"Well, you don't know if she is innocent..."_ said a voice in his head.

"Tell me what happened?" He said as gently as he could without feeling undignified.

"Well I didn't get to fight for 3 days" She said suddenly, sounding like her usual self "and you were ignoring me which pissed me off, and that pinky started bitching on me and then I got real angry so I guess I just had to let out some of my anger...".

It sounded as tho she was trying to convince herself and not just him. It made sense tho. This girl was a walking, talking cluster of energy. The fact that almost anything made her angry, on top of him not allowing her to fight, and the teasing from that smarmy Tadashi probably turned this girl into a very sensitive bomb, waiting to be ignited with the smallest spark.

However, It did not explain where the chillingly murderous reiatsu came from, or why her eyes turned red.

"Does your eyes usually change color when you let out some of your anger?" Byakuya asked.

"How the hell should I know, I didn't even notice. I mean how the smacking fag am I suppose to know if my eyes change color?" the girl said, a slight panic in her voice.

"I think" Byakuya said quietly, pressing his weight on her again "that there is something you are not telling me.".

Kaya shook her head, a distressed look on her face.

"Have you ever heard about niiro ashura?" Byakuya said, leaning closer to her.

The girl stopped squirming, her eyes wide. She was sweating now, and her hands were shaking.

"I don't know if you heard, but there has been a large number of deaths in the 80th rukongai" Byakuya said quietly, watching her face closely.

"Bloody murders, very brutal, the victim's body completely mutilated-" he continued but she stopped him.

"I don't know anything about him! I haven't been there for more then three jacking months, how should I know whats going on there for fucking sake?" the girl said, almost pleadingly.

Byakuya blinked. There was a clear panic in her voice, and it was obvious to him that she was trying to hide something. But that was not what staggered him. She said "him". He didn't remember saying that niiro ashura was a person. He wasn't even sure it was a person.

 _'She knows something.'_ Byakuya thought  _'But there is no way I'm getting anything sensible out of her like this'._

He decided to let it drop for now, and turned to the problem of her angry management. Maybe it wasn't such a smart idea to keep her shut in a room for three days, training in kido, in which she obviously had zero talent. Someone like her had to waste their energy to avoid built up tension.

The truth is he hoped that she would give up this training and exempt him from the tedious job of teaching her. He thought about the other candidates, and wondered why couldn't he get someone like them. They showed great respect to their captains, following orders obediently, and even developing a somewhat close relationship with their mentors.

True, not all of them were like Kyoraku and Tadashi, which probably shared more then baths (to the great dismay of Kyoraku's lieutenant). But Komamura seem to try (and partly succeed) in passing on his serious and honorable personality to Shigure. Soifon was treating her disciple slightly better then her lieutenant, which is something. And Ukitake's student was practically living with him, since the white haired captain was ill most of the time. Even Akamaru seemed to respect his captain. It was rather hard to tell since the red haired boy was usually very quiet near Kurotsuchi, as was most of his squad. The secret to working under the 12th squad's captain and staying in one piece was apparently to do your job quietly and effectively. It was strange and slightly disturbing to Byakuya that his protege befriended Kurotsuchi's. It wasn't that he had anything against the boy. He was just weird. Byakuya didn't think that having the dreadful Kurotsuchi as his captain was Akamaru's fault, but still, Byakuya tried not to associate himself with anyone from squad 12.

Then it occurred to Byakuya that the fact was that he knew absolutely nothing on his protege, and It seemed that the girl knew even less about him. He didn't expected (or wanted) to be best friend with her, but if they are going to be a master and disciple, they should cool things between them, and get to know each other. After all, if this brat was to become a captain one day, she had a long way ahead of her.

First he had to find out what that strange reiatsu was. And unfortunately there was only one person who might be able to help him with that.

Byakuya got off Kaya and stood up. He waited for her to do the same and noticed that she was still slightly shaking. He handed her the zanpakto, and she took it hesitantly. She reverted it to its sealed form and replaced it in her obi.

"You are dismissed for today, we shall continue this conversation at another time.".

* * *

He was hungry. Again. He could not remember being so hungry, even after he broke that cursed seal... He had to find prey soon, but he had to be careful with the shinigami sniffing around. It wouldn't do to attract more attention to himself.

A lone man crossed the dark alleyway. He was walking fast, looking around, probably trying to get home quickly. He had a small amount of spiritual power. Barely noticeable.

His need was so great, and he could practically smell the fear from the man. This pitiful game will have to do for now. His desire became much more frequent, more demanding ever since... Ever since he lost his most precious... The katana in his obi screamed in yearning, reflecting his aching greed, his lust for blood.

He longed to reap, to slice. To taste the warm blood of his victim.

He drew his sword and felt the euphoria that washed over him every time before a kill.

He licked his lips and then his unusually sharp canines. A millennia can pass, but the thrill of the kill will always be the same.

He pounced, fast and silent like a shadow, slashing at his victim's throat. But he was so excited that he missed and hit slightly lower then intended, leaving his prey still breathing.

The man screamed in horror and pain as blood spurted from the base of his neck.

He didn't care, he continued to hack and slash his prey, drenching his sword with his blood.

Ah the beautiful blood. Smeared now on the walls of the alleyway. Pooling at his feet. It sprayed on his face, drops of worm red blood. He savored it, the joy of killing. His head spun, dizzy from the pleasure of extinguishing life, draining the blood out of the living vessel. What a bliss, never had he felt so alive then in the presence of death. He was so drunk with his rapture that he almost didn't notice the nearing reiatsu of the bothersome shinigami.

When he did notice they were in the alley. There were four of them, and they saw him. But it was too dark for them to actually see his face. The only thing that could give him away was his glowing red eyes.

"Hey what the fuck?" said one of the shinigami.

He could kill them of course. Just as easily as he killed that man. But it would be troublesome if any more shinigami started swarming this place. So he retreated. Blending in the shadows to escape.

"Hey wait you!" another shinigami yelled.

He knew this place very well so navigating thru the cramped buildings wasn't hard for him. And the shinigami could not sense his reiatsu. After they lose sight of him, they wont be able to track him down. There was a spring to his steps as he ran from shadow to shadow. His mind was still in frenzy from the hunt. He was almost delirious.

His mind will clear soon from the bloodlust, but only for a short while. It felt as tho the madness came back faster every time, hitting him harder and harder.

He gripped the hilt of his weapon, feeling like he was clinging to his own sanity. If only it was as easy as closing your hand...

He had to find it. Had to.

* * *

Byakuya walked down the corridor of the research and development institute, wishing that he was almost anywhere but here. Every now and then a deformed squad member passed him, bowing and hurrying on their way.

Byakuya loathed this place, just as much as he hated the man who ran it. He wanted to finish his business here as fast as possible and get out.

The 12th squad's captain didn't scare Byakuya in any way, he was just revolting.

He finally found the twisted captain in a big lab, full of computers and large tubes.

"Kuchiki Byakuya, to what do I own the pleasure?" said the unpleasant voice of Kurotsuchi Mayuri.

Kurotsuchi looked up from the computer to stare with his orange eyes at the captain of squad 6.

"Akamaru has been helping my disciple in the last 3 days. My honor dictates that I repay you for his assistance." Byakuya said.

"Oh!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed, getting up and stepping closer to Byakuya "So you have finally come to pay for the equipment your fiendish girl destroyed?".

Byakuya didn't like Kurotsuchi referring to her as "his girl" but kept a calm demeanor.

"The research and development institute is one of the more financially supported organization in the seireitei, I find it hard to believe it would need my assistance in replacing damaged equipment." Byakuya replied dryly.

"Then what can you possibly have that would interest me?" said Kurotsuchi, slightly losing interest.

"A test sample" Byakuya said.

"Oh!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed again, starring at Byakuya with ravenous eyes "Have you come to offer yourself as a test subject?".

Byakuya suppressed his feeling of disgust at the revolting look the other captain gave him. Did he really want to do it?

"Not me. My disciple" he said simply.

"Hmm?" Kurotsuchi looked disappointed "What interest is that  _vermin_  to me?".

Byakuya hesitated, wondering how much he should tell Kurotsuchi. But after all if Kurotsuchi will examine the girl's reiatsu he will find out eventually, and it was him that was suppose to give Byakuya the answers he sought.

"Have you felt a... An ominous reiatsu this afternoon?" Byakuya asked carefully.

"I might have... I wasn't really paying attention, it was probably that barbaric Zaraki Kenpachi again..." Kurotsuchi said offhandedly.  
"No it was not." Byakuya said quietly, giving the other captain a meaningful look.

Kurotsuchi starred at Byakuya for a long moment.

"Impossible.." Kurotsuchi said finally.

"True, that is why I want you to check her reiatsu." Byakuya said.

"How interesting." Kurotsuchi said smiling his wide wicked smile.

"Ill send her here tomorrow morning. You can do whatever needs to be done to get the reiatsu sample. There is only one condition." Byakuya said, turning to leave.

"Oh and whats that?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"She will leave this facility in the exact same condition that she came in." Byakuya said slowly and very clearly.

"Hmm that might make it a little complicate." Kurotsuchi said sadly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ashura (or Asura) means "fighting demon".
> 
> Niiro means "red".


	10. Anger Is A Signal, And One Worth Listening To

"No!" Kaya said resolutely, crossing her hands.

"What do you mean 'no'?" said Kurotsuchi.

"I mean no! As in no fucking way I'm wearing that perverted crap!" Kaya yelled.

"Perverted? You foolish imp! This device is to monitor your reiatsu! How dare you relate my ingeniousness to such an idiotic simplicity!" Kurotsuchi shouted outraged.

The "device" in question was in his hand. It was a black collar with metal spikes.

Kaya looked at it with disgust, her face slightly pink. She arrived at Byakuya's office only half an hour late today and she even knocked before she entered. So why on earth did he send her here?

_"Go to the research and development institute and do whatever Kurotsuchi Mayuri tells you to do. The faster you finish there the faster you could leave that place."_ was what Byakuya said.

_'That fucking bastard.'_  Kaya thought.

"Captain, are you testing weird things again?" said a familiar dull voice.

Shoji entered the lab, his umbrella hanged on his back.

"Akamaru you seem to be very chatty the last few days, maybe I should reconstruct your vocal box so that you can say nothing except 'yes sir'." Kurotsuchi snapped at his apprentice.

"No sir that wont be necessary, you know." Shoji said in his toneless voice.

"Then shut up and get this silly monkey to wear the transmitter! I don't have all day to waste." Kurotsuchi said and shoved the collar into Akamaru's hands.

Shoji looked at Kaya and said "Its okay you know. It really is just for reading reiatsu patterns. It wont do anything funny like poke you in the eye or spray you with jello.".

He tried to smile reassuringly at her, but it looked more like a spasm or a tick. It was all he could do for now. His face wasn't used to forming expressions. But Kaya appreciated the gesture.

"Isn't there any other way to do this?" she asked after taking the collar and eying it suspiciously.

"I could transplant a transmitter into your body, which would give a far better results, but Kuchiki Byakuya asked that you wont be permanently modified so..." Kurotsuchi trailed off.

"Well that's fucking nice of him" Kaya mumbled angrily as she put the collar around her neck.

"What are you whispering there?" Kurotsuchi asked.

"I said that you are a twisted freak!" she said loudly.

"Oh is that all? Well if you have nothing intelligent to say then enter that room, you too Akamaru." Kurotsuchi said sitting behind a big computer and pointing at a heavy metal door to the left of the room.

"Whats in there?" Kaya asked as Shoji went to the door.

"A test subject doesn't need to ask questions. Now get in!" Kurotsuchi barked.

"Its my training room. Its where I usually train when I have nothing else to do, you know..." Shoji said and typed a password on the console beside the door.

The door opened and Shoji entered. Kaya followed, slightly reluctant. When she entered the door closed behind her.

They were in a very big dimly lit room. The room was full of all sort of contraptions from simple wooden logs to wide pipes, metal poles, spiked pillars, ropes, and metal rings dangled from the wall by metal chains. There were some places where what looks like canons protruded from the wall.

It looked like kindergarten from hell.

"Errr you train  _here_  Shoji?" Kaya said slightly dazed after looking around.

"Yeah, watch from the spikes they are poisonous." Shoji said walking to the center of the room and turning around to look at her.

"Enough chit chat you vermins." came Kurotsuchi's voice came from a speaker on wall "Akamaru, you know what to do.".

"Yeah I know." Shoji said, he looked slightly sad.

"Wait, what am  _I_ suppose to do?" Kaya asked.

"Stay alive" Kurotsuchi's sly voice said.

Shoji raised his hand and said "Hado 31 shakkaho.".

Kaya gasped in surprise and jumped sideways to avoid the red ball of reiatsu that flew towards her.

"What the fuck Shoji?" she yelled.

"You don't have time to yell, you know. Hado 33 sokatsui." Shoji said and a burst of blue flame-like energy exploded from his hand.

Kaya jumped away from the wave of blue reiatsu and landed on one of the wooden poles and looked angrily at Shoji.

"I don't want to hurt you." she said.

"I don't want to hurt you either so you better move quickly." Shoji said.

He shot another blast of blue reiatsu and Kaya jumped high into the air, grabbed one of the rings and swung herself at Shoji, aiming a drop kick at him. He avoided by jumping backward and she landed, and aimed another kick at his stomach, which hit, sending him flying backward.

"Oi are you okay?" Kaya asked after Shoji slowly got up to his feet.

"Who do you think you are talking to, of course he is okay. Now enough playing around Akamaru or Ill give you a pair of eels for an ears!" Kurotsuchi's angry voice sounded.

"Yes sir." Shoji said, sighing deeply "Sorry Kaya.".

He drew his zanpakto out of the umbrella and launched an attack. Kaya drew her own zanpakto and blocked him. They exchanged a few blows and Kaya had to admit that despite his slender body, with his pale skin and eyes, he was very good. In terms of raw power she could overpower him, but he was very adept at using the zanpakto. It surprised Kaya since she thought Shoji to be something of a bookworm, concentrating on kido.

And he knew the layout of the room. Kaya had to look around as they moved about the room, to avoid obstacles while Shoji moved confidently and even using the contraptions to his advantage. He once used a kido to topple a spiked pole on her, she only just managed to avoid it. He even used one of the U shaped metal pipes to channel one of his kido and hit her from behind. He was indeed a witty fighter but Kaya was faster then him. She had to use it to here advantage. She tried to confuse him, attacking from different directions, but he saw thru her feints. She even tried to use her kido, but to poor results. Her aiming was still abysmal, and half the times the kido didn't work at all.

Fifteen minuets later they still at it, each carrying a few hits (Kaya more since she got some kido blasts).

"You should release your zanpakto, you know." Shoji said, a touch of concern in his voice.

"Say what? Maybe you should release your zanpakto!" Kaya replied slightly annoyed.

"Well I was kinda hoping to avoid it, you know." Shoji said quietly, glancing at the door "I suggest you stay out of the shadows.".

With that he took his umbrella off his back with his left hand. He was now holding the umbrella in left hand and the blade in his right hand.

"Extend my shadow, Kogarasumaru." he said, leaning the umbrella against his shoulder.

Kaya remembered the day she met Shoji and how his shadows entangled her three attackers. She backed away quickly, holding her zanpakto and saying "Jump between, Hiraishin!".

She was now a good fifty meters away from him. She started to move toward him, jumping from log to loge. She placed a mark on one of the loges and when she was close enough to him she lunged, aiming a kick at him. He tried to block with the umbrella but she kicked it away. She threw a punch with her left hand and he doubled over.

And then she felt the thin ropes creep up her legs. Kaya looked down and saw thin strings of shadow wrapping around her legs, holding her in place. She tried to move her legs but it was like they turned into stone.

"Sorry, I won." Shoji said sadly.

"Oh yeah?" Kaya said angrily "Well think again.".

And she  _jumped_  to the mark she left on the log. Shoji stared at the place where she disappeared for a moment and then at her. But she didn't give him time to recover. She lunged at him, this time aiming her right bladed-fist at him. He dodged but only just. There was a bleeding gash on his right arm. He staggered and jumped to the log she just left.

_'No way!'_ Kaya thought desperately  _'Did he already figure out my jumping?'._

She felt her legs freeze again.

"Fucking assgoblin." she mumbled, looking down.

Her legs were again wrapped in shadows. But she didn't see his shadow connected to her. She looked at him and realized that he was too far away to stretch his own shadow this far.

"Behind you." Shoji said, pointing.

She looked back on the floor behind her and saw a thin line of shadow coming from...

"The umbrella?" she splattered "C'mon that's cheating!".

"My zanpakto is part of me, so its natural that I can manipulate its shadow as well." Shoji said shrugging.

Kaya put her hand inside the little pouch tied to her obi and withdrew it, holding three shuriken.

Shoji starred at her, and then she threw the shuriken at him. One hit the base of the log he was standing on and the other two missed, hitting the wall with loud echos.

"Hmm?" Shoji said looking at the two missed shuriken.

"Where are you looking at?" Kaya asked from right bellow him.

Shoji looked down and saw Kaya aiming an upper slash at him, but it was to late to move.

For a second, while Kaya was still suspended in mid air, drops of blood flew into the air from Shoji's chest. But then they disappeared. And in front of Kaya, propped up on the log was Shoji's blue umbrella.

"What the fuck?" Kaya mumbled as she landed.

The second she landed she felt the shadows binding her legs and hands, rooting her in place.

"I can manipulate the shadows so good that I can deceive my enemy into not seeing that I switch places with my umbrella. As for your switching technique, I'm guessing that you can switch to places your hands touch. This was the only log you actually touched with your hand. I thought it was weird, and then you threw those shuriken. At first it seemed a pointless move. But then you popped up where the shuriken hit..." Shoji trailed away shrugging again.

"Damn Shoji, you are not half bad..." she said quietly.

"Thanks. You are not bad either... You are just a bit too reckless, you know?" he said, sealing his zanpakto and releasing her from the shadows.

"Hey Mayuri! Did you get your samples? Or did I move too fast for your computer?" Kaya shouted at the room.

"You snotty little fiend, how dare you talk to me like that? Ill make you-" Kurotsuchi's angry voice yelled at her but she interrupted him.

"Yeah yeah, this is fun and all, but I really should get going." Kaya said eager to start her  _real_  training with Byakuya.

"Don't be ridiculous, test subjects don't just leave whenever they want!" Kurotsuchi barked.

"Well, if Ill see one of those test subjects Ill be sure to tell them that... See ya later Shoji. Oh and sorry for the door." Kaya said hurriedly, waving at Shoji.

"What door?" he asked confusedly, waving back at her.

"Raikiri!" She called and channeled her reiatsu into her right hand.

* * *

It was past eleven when the peaceful silence in the 6th squad's corridors was disturbed by the raging reiatsu of a very angry Kaya stampeding her way to the captain's office.

Most squad members knew by now to just disappear whenever the cheeky hot-headed new recruit was charging thru. None of them understood how their strict and honorable captain allowed such a disobedient rascal to remain in his squad, not to mention as his personal trainee.

There were however some surprised faces popping up here and there. The reason was because a few feet behind the seething youth walked, quiet calmly and slightly smiling, the captain of squad 13.

When they reached the captain's office Ukitake hurried up and got to the door before Kaya could.

"Ill go first Otori kun, if you don't mind?" Ukitake said with a smile.

"Knock yourself out." Kaya mumbled angrily.

"Did you say something?" Ukitake asked after he knocked on the door and waited for answer.

"I said just open the goddamned door!" Kaya said loudly and charged at the door.

Just before she reached the handle, the door swung open. Kaya, still in the charging momentum, lost her balance and crashed spectacularly into the office's floor.

Groaning silently she looked up and saw Byakuya standing by the opened door. He side-stepped just in time to avoid being tackled by his clumsy disciple.

"What are you looking at?" Kaya grunted, getting quickly to her feet,

"A demented delinquent who most unfortunately happens to be my subordinate." Byakuya said in his usual tone.

"Oh yeah?" Kaya yelled back at him automatically but then paused, trying to figure out what exactly he called her.

"Well I don't know what demented dilin-thing means" she said finally "but I'm  _not_  your subordinate.".

Ukitake seemed to feel that its best to stir the conversation away from the dangerous water it seemed to head into, because he stepped forward and said cheerfully "Good morning Kuchiki! How are you?".

Byakuya stared at his senior and said "Considering  _your_ feeble health, I doubt you came all this way to inquire about my well being, captain Ukitake.".

_'Its amazing how he manage to be so rude while speaking so politely.'_ Ukitakethought to himself, amused.

"Well I was passing by the 12th squad when I heard an explosion. To make long tale short I had to extricate Otori Kun from a very angry Kurotsuchi. Something about destroying research facilities..." Ukitake said brightly.

Byakuya didn't say anything for a minute and just starred at his brat of an apprentice, who surprisingly had nothing to say. She was looking away from him, her hands crossed.

He turned to Ukitake and said coldly "In the future, do not over-exert yourself over that brat. You will find such endeavors to be pointless and probably a waste of your delicate health.".

Ukitake's joyful demeanor faltered for a brief second. He wasn't sure who was suppose to be more offended, himself or the girl.

"Nonsense! Escorting a spirited young lady is no effort for me!" he said gleefully "Well Ill be on my way! Good day to you!" and left.

Byakuya looked after the white haired captain for a minute before closing the door. He was starting to get annoyed by other people shoving their noses into his business especially when it concerned his annoying apprentice. Wherever they walked captains seemed to pop up as tho worried that if they wont keep an eye on him he will murder the girl.

"Look, it wasn't my fault!" the girl said suddenly.

Byakuya didn't say anything but walked over to his desk.

"That asshole Mayuri locked me up in a freaking room full of killing machines!" Kaya said almost hysterically "So I blasted my way out! And then that weirdo Nemu appeared and went berserk, saying something about intruders in the institute! So I had to defend myself! I had no choice! So I might have knocked down a few computers..." Kaya trailed off, noticing that Byakuya wasn't listening. He was leaning against his desk, staring at the window.

"I don't recall asking what happened." he said when he noticed that she was looking at him angrily.

Kaya gaped at him for a second before saying "I- well... you had an accusing look and... err..".

"I wast even looking at you." he replied.

Kaya opened her mouth instinctively to reply but found she had nothing to say. She was already angry about the morning's events, and just about had enough of him giving her the cold shoulder. That on top of the indignity of having to be "rescued" by the sickly captain rendered her speechless.

"Why the flying eggplant did you send me there?" she blurted angrily when she finally found her voice.

Byakuya thought he heard the faintest trace of hurt in her voice, but her expression was the same as always, insolent obstinacy.

"That was your first punishment. Ill set you more once I think of something bad enough." he said.

"Pu-punishment?" Kaya splattered, clenching her fists and taking a step closer to Byakuya "What for? And what do you mean more?".

"Your boundless insubordination has resulted in more punishments then you can count with your fingers." Byakuya said, also taking a step toward her.

His voice wasn't threatening, it was serene as always. His posture wasn't menacing, his body relaxed. Despite his lack of any visible hostility, Kaya couldn't help but tense up. She had more then enough experience dealing with dangerous people in the harsh rokungai she grew up in. she survived only because she has developed an almost uncanny ability to sense danger. That ability, combined with her remarkably sharp ears and her small and agile stature practically saved her life.

The problem was that her sensitive danger alerts got a little jammed during the months she spent at the academy. At first she was very cautious and kept to herself, but after realizing that most of her fellow students never had a real fight in their life, others barely knew how to hold a katana and none of them were interested in ending her life she begun to loosen up. They all grew up relatively peacefully, never had to struggle for their life. Her skills were clearly way above theirs, and she didn't hesitate to show it. This unavoidably attracted unfriendly attention from her classmates, and even from other classes. They quickly learned that they had no chance to win one on one so they ganged up on her, but even so they were nothing but exercise for her. They didn't have any wish to kill her, they were petty bullies, so she enjoyed the sport. The problem was that usually she was the one being punished since by the time a teacher got there, the other guys were on the floor. She hated those punishments, she found them unjust and humiliating.

She stood there glaring up at Byakuya for a long time. He seemed to be waiting for her to replay.

"I..." she started but didn't know how to continue, arguing never helped in the academy and she didn't think Byakuya would be any less strict then her previous teachers.

"Look if its about yesterday I told you I didn't start it either." Kaya said, scratching her ear.

"If it will make you feel better, then no, its not about yesterday." Byakuya said, a slight sneer in his voice.

The girl didn't seem like it made her feel better, but Byakuya couldn't care less. He wanted to spar with her again today and try to make her repeat whatever she did yesterday, and try to figure out what exactly happened.

He had a feeling that if he could push her enough she would do it again. He had no doubt that his disciple could not fight on equal ground with Tadashi Soga, not to mention win. His only explanation was that somehow, when pushed to the corner, the girl released some hidden ability. But it seemed that she had no control over it. Whether she was aware of her power or not, he wasn't sure.

Byakuya started walking to the door. When he moved Kaya tensed up, as tho expecting an attack.

_'A little edgy today hm?'_ he thought.

"Come" he said not looking at her as he opened the door.

"Where are we going?" she asked defensively.

"Why cant you just follow orders instead of wasting my time asking pointless questions?" he asked looking back at her.

"I want to know where we are going, and if you think I'm wasting your time, you should just explain instead of asking pointless questions yourself." Kaya said, crossing her hands defiantly.

Byakuya stared at her, stunned by her boldness. Why was he standing it? He ought to slice her throat for insulting him again and again.

"I see no reason to explain my orders to you, and furthermore I expect you, as my subordinate, to follow them without questions." Byakuya said sternly.

That's how he regarded all of his squad members, and the other captains were no different from him. The gotei 13 is a military force and as such had a clear and indisputable hierarchy. Any shinigami had to obey orders given by his superiors or suffer the consequences. The girl didn't seem to grasp this simple fact yet.

He started walking again without looking back. Shortly he heard a hurried footsteps as the girl tried to catch up to him, as he knew she would.

"So while we are walking you can tell me where are we going," she said, popping next to him "and why aren't we just flash stepping out of the window?".

"Because we are not uncivilized monkeys." Byakuya said, ignoring the first question.

She once tried to enter his office thru the window but was blasted away with a kido and had to go all around thru the "slower way" which was used by everybody else.

"Monkeys or not, its still faster then just walking. And you lecture  _me_ about wasting time." Kaya muttered angrily to herself.

"What did you say?" Byakuya asked, not catching the last part.

"I said that you are a fucking pain in the ass who's wasting  _my_ frigging time!" the girl bellowed angrily.

They were outside, and good thing they were because if they weren't she had no room to evade his attack. Before she finished talking his blade was coming her way. She jumped and landed smoothly in what she now realized was the squad's training grounds.


	11. Lessons of pain

_She was bleeding badly. Her sight was blurred from fatigue as well as blood dripping into her eyes. Her cloths were soaked in blood and sweat and stuck to her body. He almost killed her this time, she was lucky to still be able to stand, not to mention walk. She somehow managed to hobble to her usual place. Her sanctuary._

_It was a lone tree standing on the edge of a short cliff near the mountains outside the populated area of the 80th rukongai._

_He never came here, he didn't like the open air or the bright sunlight. The cramped buildings and dark dirty alleys were his sanctuary, his escape from prying eyes._

_She always came here to rest and recover, sometimes sitting under the tree, sometimes nesting on its branches. She didn't know the name of the tree but she liked it. It provided her with shelter and didn't demand fees. It didn't shout and tried to kick her away when she neared it. It didn't try to kill her, just because she was small and vulnerable. The cliff also had a lot of healing herbs growing around it that she sometimes used. It was like the tree waited for her to come, to sit in its shade._

_She leaned her aching back against the trunk and slid down. She fell asleep before reaching the ground._

* * *

Kaya blinked, trying to get the sand out of her eyes. She just rolled on the sandy floor of the training ground to avoid Byakuya's kido. Her lungs seared as she breathed heavily. Her legs shook slightly from the effort. Her hands felt heavy.

_'Fuck I'm completely out of shape.'_  she thought angrily.

She didn't have a real challenge in the academy. Her reactions were slow, her stamina quickly depleted. She got hit more then dozen times. If she were back at the rukongai, she would have been dead.

Her opponent, on the other hand was completely unharmed. He stood looking as tho the battle just began, after overpowering her almost effortlessly.

Kaya bit her lip in frustration. During their previous battles she could somehow keep up with him. She managed to dodge almost every attack and even managed to land a hit. But now it was all she could do to catch her breath between his assaults.

_'Could it be that he was going easy on me?'_ she thought desperately.

The sand prevented her from placing marks to which she could  _jump_ , and she was unsuccessful in landing a hand on him. Her only option was the shuriken. She usually tried to avoid using it, and kept it as a last resort.

She drew three shuriken from her pouch and hurled them at Byakuya. He deflected them and they landed in the sand around him. The second the shuriken stopped moving she disappeared, reappearing behind Byakuya, her blade ready to attack. But it never reached its target.

Kaya knew something was wrong the moment she  _jumped_. Her  _jumps_  were instantaneous so she had no way to stop or go back.

A mind-numbing pain shot thru her right hand. She looked and saw Byakuya's blade piercing her shoulder, passing thru her skin bone and muscle and sticking out of her back.

The blade was stuck so deep that one might think that she ran straight at it. But Kaya knew what went wrong. The only explanation was that the blade was there before she  _jumped._  Getting stuck into things was the risk she took every time she  _jumped,_  thats why she always looked carefully before  _jumping_.

She groaned in pain and sealed her shikai. The sealed zanpakto fell from her numb fingers. Her legs finally succumbed and she fell to her knees, unable to fully collapse due to the blade still stuck in her shoulder.

_'Am I going to die?'_  she thought dazedly as she looked up at Byakuya thru a mist of agony.

His face was expressionless, as always, as he looked down at her. She felt the icy grip of fear on her throat, something she didn't feel in a long time. Ever since she left  _him_.

Amazing how two completely different people could give her the exact same feeling.

Her breath was now slow and shallow. Each breath seem to take eternity, and was accompanied by excruciating pain. She felt lightheaded, as tho it was a dream from which she would soon wake up.

_'Is this the face of my death? Well its not so bad, he is rather handsome..'_ her thought trailed off as he raised his hand.

Just before she fainted she felt a rush of fury and ravenous rage that were so alien yet so familiar...

"Hado 33 so-" Byakuya was interrupted by an unwelcome guest.

"Oi Kuchiki, what do you think you're doing?" said a cold voice.

Byakuya lowered his hand and looked at the youngest captain standing next to his disciple.

"Teaching" Byakuya said, extracting his sword from the now limp body of his subordinate.

"I think lesson's over for today." Toshiro said, kneeling to check on Kaya, who lay motionless on the ground. She fainted, but was still alive.

Byakuya ignored the comment and sheathed his zanpakto. There wasn't much of a crowed this time. An eye-watering green ringlet caught his eye.

"Sakurai." Byakuya said, spotting the disheveled youth.

His appearance was as careless and sloppy as ever. His kimono was slightly untucked and his obi tied clumsy. On one leg he wore a tabi, while on the other only a sandal.

Sakurai Ryo hurried up to his captain's side, hastily shoving stubborn strands of stubborn hair into his brown beanie.

"Captain Kuchiki!" Sakurai said standing stiff, expecting to be scolded for one thing or another.

"Take the brat to the 4th squad. And tuck your kimono." Byakuya said coldly and walked away.

"Hey wait a moment Kuchiki!" Toshiro called after him "Take care of her will you?" he added to Ryo as he ran after the other captain.

Byakuya didn't hear Toshiro's call. He was slightly disappointed. The girl showed no sign of abnormal powers. He was a little rough with her, well more then a little. He hoped that by driving her to her limit she would reveal some sort of hidden potential. But nothing happened, at least until she fainted. A split second before her eyes closed, Byakuya thought he saw a flash of red in the green eyes. He also felt a tiny burst of different spiritual pressure but it was gone very quickly.

She seemed rather taken aback by her inferiority compared to him. Did she really think he was fighting seriously in their previous spars? He was reluctantly impressed that she lasted that long but...

"Oi Kuchiki!" an angry voice interrupted his train of thoughts.

He looked back over his shoulder and saw the white haired captain hurrying after him.

"What now?" Byakuya asked. He was annoyed by the younger captain stepping in and refused to be lectured by anyone, least of all by someone younger then himself.

"I suggest you take it easy on Otori. Students tend to learn better when they are conscious." Toshiro said rather coldly.

"Thats funny, I don't remember seeking your learned advice." Byakuya said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"I don't think there's anything funny about it. Beating someone half to death is no way to teach anything." Toshiro said angrily.

"She was alive and breathing last time I checked." Byakuya said and started walking away again.

"And if you feel an urge to share your  _vast_  knowledge you should do it with someone who's skills are lesser then yours.".

Toshiro stood there, paralyzed with fury and starring at Byakuya walking away. He knew it wasn't his place to criticize other captain. All captains had, after all, absolute authority over their subordinates, and no one, excluding perhaps the head captain, could question that power.

However the too frequent conflicts between Byakuya and Kaya worried Toshiro.

Most captains were very intrigued after hearing about Otori Kaya, and how she miraculously graduated from the academy in three months. It was just as intriguing to hear that she was to be one of the remarkably talented shinigami that were picked as candidates for the empty captains positions.

The most surprising part was that the head captain assigned her to captain Kuchiki, who until now has refused point blank to take any pupil at all.

From what Toshiro heard and saw, Otori was a terrible match to Kuchiki. She was loud and rude, refused to take orders, extremely hot headed and not too smart.

It was anyone's guess how she managed to stay as Kuchiki's student for almost a week, as the captain of squad 6 despised every one of the girl's traits.

The girl seemed to have an unfortunate talent in not only angering the cool-headed captain, but actually succeeding in making him show his anger.

Everyone knew that, at least on the surface, Kuchiki Byakuya was a serene and calm man. Even when provoked he never shows any sign of anger, and when insulted he reply in an arrogant offending manner.

"Well, she is still alive..." Toshiro sighed "But she is either stupid or brave to keep pushing her luck with Kuchiki like that...".

"She can be stupid and brave." said Rangiku, coming to stand beside her captain.

"I hope for her that she is not. Its a very dangerous combination." Toshiro said.

* * *

_She was running. Again. It felt like all she did lately was running. She gripped the new weapon in her hand very tightly, fearing that it might slip from her sweating fingers. Not that it did her much good, she barely knew how to use it._

_It was very short. Even if she did knew how to use it what good it will do against a much longer katana, and in such a skilled, cruel hands._

_He was closing up on her. She could hear his steps, but only because she had excellent ears. Worse then that, she could feel his spiritual pressure._

_He didn't bother suppressing it as no one except her could sense it. The vast, chilling, gut-wrenching aura surrounded her, crushing her whole being. It was like drowning in thick dark mud._

_How could something so vile be human?_

_She tried to get to one of the roofs, jumping on a window to get there. Before she landed on the roof, she knew it was a mistake._

_He got there a split second before her, his sword drawn._

_A swift slash. Splatter of blood. Gruesome pain along her shoulder. And fear. Terrible fear washing over her, like a mighty tsunami, unstoppable, uncontrollable._

* * *

"No!" Kaya cried getting up so abruptly that the other person in the room dropped the glass he was drinking from and yelled in surprise.

Pain rushed from her right shoulder. It was so intense, Kaya felt dizzy and dropped back into the pillow, cursing loudly.

"Hey why are you shouting like that! You scared me!" said an annoyed voice that sounded familiar.

Kaya looked around, slightly confused and realized that she was in the 4th squad hospital. She knew it very well since she visited it so frequently. She also realized that her shoulder was bandaged. The last thing she noticed was a person with impossibly messy vivid green hair.

"Ryo? What the crap are you doing here?" Kaya asked.

"Don't call me like that! Do I look like your boyfriend or something? That casua-" Ryo splattered but was interrupted by Kaya.

"Stick a needle up your nose, Ryo, and get the flying shit out of here." she said and nodded at the broken shards on the floor "But clean this mess before you go.".

"I don't take orders from you, you little bitch, and-" Ryo screamed, his face red and his hair seemed to flare up around his head, like a bundle of hissing snakes. Before he could finish he was interrupted again.

This time by captain Unohana that entered the room, smiling as always.

"I'm happy to see that you feel better, Kaya, and I'm sure you are relived to see that your fellow squad member has recovered, Sakurai. But you must be quiet in the hospital." she said smiling widely at both of them.

"Yes ma'am" Kaya and Ryo mumbled together.

"Well good! Now I want to examine Kaya's shoulder so if you please, Sakurai." Unohana said and mentioned toward the door.

"Um, captain Unohana, please, I got orders from captain Kuchiki to stay here until she wakes up and tell her that he wish to speak with her." Ryo said nervously, squishing his brown beanie in his hands.

"Oh yeah? Well you can tell Byakuya that if he want to talk to me he can bring his royal ass here and-" Kaya said angrily but Unohana gave a small cough and Kaya stopped.

"Um.. I mean, fine ill come..." she said looking at the ceiling.

"You can go now, Sakurai." Unohana said kindly.

When Ryo left the room Kaya said abruptly "Retsu san, where is my zanpakto?".

"Captain Kuchiki has it." Unohana said.

"Say what? That dick-" Kaya gasped, dread all over her face.

"I am sure captain Kuchiki will take a very good care of your zanpakto until you recover." Unohana said in a soothing tone.

"I, I need it..." Kaya said quietly, a slight distress creeping into her voice.

Unohana didn't say anything but helped Kaya sit up again and started checking her shoulder.

"How long was I out?" Kaya asked, wincing as Unohana stretched her shoulder to test its movement.

"Couple of hours, Abarai Renji and Kuchiki Rukia came to visit you but you weren't up yet." Unohana said "It was a very unfortunate injury, captain Kuchiki's sword cut straight thru your clavicle and scapula.".

"My what?" Kaya said, having no idea what Unohana was talking about.

"Your collar bone" Unohana said, putting a finger on the horizontal long bone just under Kaya's shoulder, "and your shoulder blade." she touched the flat bone on the back, "A very clean cut, however it seemed to start healing almost immediately...".

"Yeah... I...  _jumped_ without looking..." Kaya mumbled.

Unohana didn't say anything and continued to examine Kaya's shoulder.

After a while she said, "You ought to be more careful, Kaya".

"I just made a mistake, I usually look more carefully before I  _jump._  He was just faster then me..." Kaya mumbled.

"That's not what I meant. Physical wounds can always be healed, and you seem to have a wonderfully fast regeneration rate. But if you wound someone's pride, it may not be so easy to mend. You didn't make such a good first impression, and its been getting worse since then. You should find a way to settle things with captain Kuchiki before its too late. Which would be a shame, as you can learn so much from him." Unohana said, finishing checking Kaya's shoulder.

Kaya didn't look at her. "I just want my zanpakto..." she said quietly.

She started to feel very vulnerable without her zanpakto. She always felt exposed, almost naked, without it.

Kaya looked out of the window. It was getting late, the sun was starting to set.

"You will have to stay here a couple of days, until your shoulder completely heals." Unohana said and walked over to the door "Use these days to rest and... think about what I said.".

Kaya set on the bed, looking out of the window at the darkening sky for what felt like hours.

Shoji came to visit that evening. He was looking quiet awkward, not sure what to say.

"I came to see how are you feeling." he said in his hollowed voice after a few minuets of quiet.

He tried to put on a worried expression, but failed miserably, which made Kaya laugh.

It was a very short laugh however, because laughing made her shoulder burn with pain.

"I see you are not gonna be out of here any time soon." Shoji said quietly, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Don't say that! I can't stand it, laying in bad all day, its boring as shit!" Kaya said, hoping more then ever that she had her zanpakto with her.

They didn't say anything for a while, Shoji not sure what to say, and Kaya in too much pain to talk about anything.

When Shoji left it was completely dark outside. Kaya wondered where Byakuya was keeping her zanpakto and if she had enough strength to try and sneak into his office and get it.

Just when she thought about threatening Hanataro and making him go get her zanpakto she heard footsteps outside her room.

* * *

Byakuya was siting in his office, thinking. Few hours ago he talked to Kurotsuchi Mayuri about the tests he did on his brat of a student. He was on his way back from the training grounds when the outlandish captain found him.

The test results showed clear residue of spiritual energy that did not belong to the girl. However nothing could be sampled from these remains as the source was not active during the test. The only way to scan the foreign reiatsu was at the time that the foreign spiritual energy appeared and could be sensed.

When Sakurai returned, reporting that the girl was in the care of squad 4, Byakuya sent him back to wait until she wake up and tell her that he wanted to talk to her.

Just when he was thinking that he should force the girl to wear one of Kurotsuchi's scanning devices all the time, someone knocked on the door.

It was Sakurai Ryo. He entered the room and stood stiffly.

"Captain Kuchiki!" he said, looking at the floor "Otori woke up and I delivered your message, sir.".

Byakuya waited to see if Sakurai is going to continue.

When he didn't Byakuya said "And?".

"S-sir?" Sakurai asked, confused, and lifted his gaze from the floor and was startled to see his captain looking straight at him.

"What did she say?" Byakuya asked slightly short tempered.

"Well, umm she said fine and she would come.. Captain." Sakurai said his voice trembling slightly.

Byakuya starred at Sakurai, slightly surprised.

"She said 'fine'?" he asked the trembling boy.

"Well umm..." Sakurai was actually shaking now.

"Sakurai, what did she say? And stop that whimpering, its pathetic." Byakuya asked slowly and clearly.

Sakurai told him exactly what the girl said.

Sakurai closed his eyes, expecting to be hit by lightning for repeating the spoiled girl's foul words about his captain.

"That sounds more like her..." Byakuya said, more to himself "You can go." he added to Sakurai and went back to his paperwork.

Finishing his paperwork Byakuya set back and looked at the corner of his desk where set the girl's zanpakto.

It had a yellow handle-wrap and dark blue sheath and its cross guard was in the shape of a five points pinwheel.

Byakuya wondered if he should take the sword with him when he visits the brat.

_Maybe I should take it, just to annoy her... No!_  Byakuya shook his head slightly. Why would he want to annoy her? He refused to sink into her stupid games, so why did he even think about that...

A while later, Byakuya was walking along the corridors of squad 4, the wakizashi in his hand. He was led by Yamada Hanataro, to the brat's room. He dismissed the 7th seat before entering.

As he closed (and locked) the door behind him he heard a groan.

"Ow don't tell me Ryo actually told you what I said..." his disciple said tiredly.

And then her eyes fell on her zanpakto.

"Hiraishin! Give it to me!" she said and tried to get up but it seemed that her shoulder was too painful to allow that. She gasped and groaned again as she failed to get up, Her face twisted in pain. He almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

"Please?" she said quietly, despair showing on her face.

When he didn't answer, the girl groaned again and looked at the ceiling mumbling something to herself.

"What did you say?" he asked, a warning in his voice.

He stepped closer to her bed and was satisfied to see her tense.

"I said" the girl replied, gnashing her teeth "in other, very rude words, that I hope you will have a very painful and unproductive life.".

She glared at him with a weird, twisted smile.

"You are terribly mistaken if you think you can talk to me like that just because you are injured or because you are in the hospital." Byakuya said and jabbed the dark blue scabbard of the short zanpakto into the girl's bandaged shoulder.

She yelled in pain and tried to grab the zanpakto with her other hand but Byakuya caught her hand and pulled, so that the girl was now half laying on her injured shoulder.

She tried to pull her hand away, cursing loudly, but it only increased the strain on her shoulder and she stopped. She tried to get away from him, almost squirming, her face twisted in pain. She clenched her jaw but he could hear her choked sobs.

He let go. She lied back on the bad, breathing heavily, half moaning.

"Did I make myself clear?" Byakuya asked.

"Painfully clear." the girl groaned.

Byakuya recalled the last time she used that answer, in the bath near the Kuchiki training grounds.

"It would seem that pain is the only teacher you accept." he said.

The girl swallowed and looked at him, scowling.

"Not my fault you are a shitty teacher." she said quietly.

She stiffened again, expecting pain to follow her cheeky answer.

Byakuya starred at her for a minute, wondering if she was enjoying the pain. He had to admit that he did fail to teach the girl anything in the past few days. He didn't even try to guide her, but only thought of a way to get rid of her.

"No, its not." he said slowly.

The girl starred at him, disbelief on her face.

"Huh?" she said, obviously not expecting him to agree with her.

Byakuya took a deep breath and said:

"I can teach you if you have brain. I can guide you if you have talent. I can train you if you have dedication. But I cant make you grow up. I don't have time or will to teach you how to behave in civilized society. I don't need to earn your respect, y _ou_ need to earn  _mine_. You think you have what it takes to be a captain? Then invigorate me. If you can't, then we say farewell now.".

He lifted her zanpakto again and held it to her.

The girl looked at him. Her face was blank, and she seem to be in deep thoughts.

"You wont get rid of me that easily." she said finally "You are my captain.".

She grabbed her zanpakto and there was a flaming determination in her eyes when she looked at him.

"Ill see you when you recover, then." Byakuya said and released her zanpakto.

He turned to leave when she said: "Tomorrow then, captain.".

He stopped and looked back at her, but she was busy examining her weapon.

He opened the door when she talked again.

"Hey Byakuya? What invigorate means?".

 


	12. Don't kill my dream

Byakuya didn't expect the girl to recover before next week. Captain Unohana was a very skilled healer indeed, but even with her healing it would take the muscles and bones time to completely recover.

Which is why he was, to say the least, astonished to see her waiting in his office next morning.

She was sitting in his chair, and leaned backward so that the chair stood on two legs while her legs rested on his desk. Her hands behind her head, she was chowing what looked like one of his brushes.

He was so surprised to see her fully recovered after less then 24 hours that he didn't even feel angry at her disregard for his working space.

"Oh Byakuya. I mean captain. What's up?" she said, removing her legs and letting the chair fall back on all four with a thud.

She got up and put the brush on the desk, smiling weakly.

"Sorry about that, but I saw you have hundreds so I'm sure you'll be fine." she said, walking away from is desk.

"What are you doing here?" he said when finally he found his voice "You are suppose to be in the hospital.".

"Well I got up really early so that Retsu san could release me quickly. She checked and said that everything's fine and I can go." Kaya said and rolled her right shoulder to show that its completely functional.

When Byakuya didn't say anything her shoulders drooped and she frowned.

"Are you mad about the brush?" she asked carefully.

"No. I am just surprised that you recovered so fast." he said, frowning as well.

"Well, thats okay." she said, putting her hands on her waist and smirking "It will be easier for me to  _invigorate_  you if you keep underestimating me.".

Byakuya watched her carefully, looking for any sign of suppressed pain, or stiff movement, anything that would suggest that she was indeed injured, quiet severely, yesterday. But he saw nothing. It seem she was completely fine.

"I asked Retsu san what invigorate means." she said, misinterpreting his silence.

"I see." he said, not paying attention to what she said.

"Hey Byakuya..?" Kaya said, noticing that Byakuya wasn't really paying attention.

"We will go to the training ground." he said at last.

"Hey can we go somewhere else?" Kaya said, slightly groaning.

"Why? Because you cant use your teleporting on sand?" Byakuya asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Its  _jumping_! And no, I just.. err don't like it thats all, too many people..." she said, going slightly red and scratching her ear.

"A shinigami should be able to fight anywhere." he said, turning to leave.

"Oh yeah?" she said, mischief in her voice "Then lets fight here!".

Before he had time to answer, she released her zanpakto. The office was illuminated by the blue lightning of her release. He turned around and saw her pushing the pile of paperwork off his desk with her left hand, which was glowing.

The room was full of flying papers, there was no way to tell which one she marked, as he was sure that she did. Using the desk to gain height, charged with a jump spin hook kick at his face. He dodged and made to catch her leg but she already wriggled away from him.

Then she disappeared and reappeared instantly to his left, slashing with her zanpakto. He quickly drew his own weapon and blocked her. She retreated swiftly and aimed a low kick at his shins. He dodge it, and as he did she switched the weapon to her left hand.

"Raikiri!" she yelled as the blue lightning covered her right hand.

She charged again, attacking with her right crackling hand, and when she missed continued the spinning motion of the attack with the blade in her left hand. The lightning disappeared from her right hand when she missed. She sent another kick at him, which he blocked, and then disappeared again.

The moment she disappeared he released his own zanpakto, sending the hundreds of tiny blades flying around himself. She reappeared and jumped on his desk. The veil of what seemed like cherry petals surrounded him so she had no chance to land and attack. She returned the blade to her right hand and drew three shuriken with her left hand and threw them at him. Senbonzakura's veil of blades deflected the shuriken and sent them flying safely away. Then the blades spread out all around Byakuya, creating a faint glittering mist around him.

Kaya bit her lip, still standing on the desk. Byakuya was standing in the middle of the fallen papers. The papers spread out for about 1.5 meters from him and so did his blade fragments. The blades were too close to each other that there was no way she could  _jump_  between them.

"What's the matter? Aren't you going to  _jump_?" Byakuya asked when he saw her hesitate.

He was pretty sure that she would not  _jump._ As far as he knew she could only use two marks at a time, and since he saw her  _jumping_ to two different spots, he assumed that she could not use another mark. He noticed during their last spar that she used the shuriken not as weapons, as one might think, but as portable marks. However, what she did this time was just a lousy feint, which no doubt meant to draw his attention as well as his flying blades from the marks she left on the papers.

"Don't underestimate me!" she growled raising her l hand, her palm open.

The jagged lines on her right glove were glowing bright yellow, and a fine, almost invisible, blue bolt of lightning surged along her hand.

"Hado 31 shakkaho!" she yelled shooting her reiatsu at Byakuya.

He was positively surprised that it worked. Thru the pink mist of his zanpakto he saw the small red ball of reiatsu takes form in her palm, blue lightning crackling around it.

Byakuya braced himself to block the kido with his blades, but that was unnecessary.

The crackling ball passed by him, missing by more then a meter, and hit the wall, going thru it and exploding in the corridor.

"What the hell?" a shrill voice made both Kaya and Byakuya jump and look at the hole in the wall, as if just now realizing that they were still in the office.

Renji's face appeared in the hole, looking disheveled and angry.

"What was that?" he yelled.

"Hey Renji." Kaya said scratching her ear.

Renji's head disappeared from the hole and then the door opened, reveling the whole Renji.

"Don't "Hey Renji" me! Ca- captain wha-" Renji splattered, trying to digest the scene in front of him.

Kaya, which was supposed to be in the hospital, was standing on his captain's desk holding her released zanpakto. His captain was standing in the middle of the room, his zanpakto also released, and scattered on the floor all around him was what seemed to be today's paperwork.

Strangely enough what bothered Renji the most was the papers on the floor, dreading that he will have to clean it up.

"Ca-ca-captain wha-what are you doing?" Renji asked helplessly, almost crying from distress.

His captain turned around and sealing his zanpakto put it back in its sheath.

"Hm, we were on our way to the training ground." Byakuya said blankly. He walked to the door and Kaya jumped off the desk, also sealing her zanpakto and followed him.

When he walked by Renji, who was gaping at both of them, Byakuya said, "Oh and Renji? Clean up this mess will you?".

"Yeah Renji clean up this mess will ya?" Kaya said grinning, staying behind a few seconds after Byakuya left.

"I'm gonna kill you you half-witted punk!" Renji snarled thru gritted teeth.

* * *

As the days passed, things seemed to settle down between Kaya and Byakuya. At least, Kaya didn't need to visit the 4th squad again.

They spared every day, sometime in the squad's training grounds, sometimes in the Kuchiki's training grounds, and sometimes outside of the seireitei, in the wild areas of the rukongai.

One day they even stumbled upon a hollow which Kaya disposed off. It was a very weak hollow so Byakuya let her fight it alone. She was very proud of herself after beating the hollow and Byakuya only barely stopped himself from commenting that the hollow was weaker then the Koi swimming in his pool.

It seem she did make some progress. She arrived on time almost everyday, but Byakuya suspected that it was only because if she got to the office after he did, she had to wait for him to finish some of his immeasurably dull duties such as paperwork, handing missions and tasks to his subordinates, paperwork, reviewing with Renji the progress of the new squad members and some more paperwork.

"Where the flipping hell all this paperwork comes from?" Kaya bellowed one day, mentioning at the fresh piles of papers that appeared everyday on Byakuya and Renji's desks.

"Squad 1, probably." Byakuya answered distractedly, while reading another one of the endless papers.

"No! What I meant is how come there's new ones every day? There's not  _that_ much going on to fill a mountain of papers  _every_  day, is there?" Kaya asked incredulously.

"Clearly, there is." he replied dully "Still want to be a captain?".

"Of course! Its my dream and nothing, not even a sneaking pile of papers, will stop me from achieving it!" she said, firing up and jumping on his desk, accidentally pushing some papers off it. "Did I make myself clear?" she asked no one in particular, raising her fist and staring out of the window with fire in her eyes.

"Painfully..." Byakuya sighed and pushed her of his desk before she could scatter more of his paperwork.

She almost stopped cursing, when talking to Byakuya at least, letting loose a curse here and there, and was almost polite when addressing him. She called him captain, sometimes, and stopped drawing her sword on him when something he said made her angry, which happened quiet a lot.

To his great annoyance she was starting to talk like him, without of course his well learned aristocratic and calm manners.

"There is no shame in admitting you got your ass kicked. The difference in our abilities is something you don't seem to comprehend, Ryo." Byakuya heard her say to Sakurai after wrestling him to the ground after he cursed her for kicking him of a bench on which he was sleeping.

One time he rescued her before she got into a fight with some 11th squad members.

"How can a little brat like you be the cause of so many troubles?" he asked her after the 11th squad members left.

"Great achievements often attract envious and resentful feelings! And stop calling me brat, my name is Kaya, you should know that as my captain, as well as a sentient being." she said with a haughty smile.

It seemed to him that she was trying him. Trying to see what things he would allow her to do, and what thing he did not tolerate. Trying to measure how cheeky she could get without being punished. Trying to see how much troubles she could manage in one day.

At least her skills in combat improved. After observing her fights over couple of days, Byakuya came to a conclusion that the girl's problem wasn't her ability, or inability. Indeed her reiatsu seem to grow alarmingly fast, bit by bit, every day.

It was the fact that she was a highly inconsistent fighter and person. At first he thought that maybe it was because she was in her period. He knew that women's mood could change during that time. However when more then a week passed and she was still as impulsive and unpredictable as ever, he had to conclude that it was simply her nature.

That nature meant that she could be quiet and well mannered one moment and a moment later burst out spitting and cursing at some idiocy someone said. It also meant that her fighting ability and style changed every day, and sometimes more then once a day. Sometimes she was as skillful as some of the lieutenants, calculatingly dodging his attacks and even managing to lend some hits on him. Other times she was so reckless and rush that he was finding it difficult avoiding hitting her fatally.

"Why" he said on one of those many occasions that the girl found herself sprawled on the ground from exhaustion, "Why do you want to be a captain?".

Most people who became shinigami, naturally, aimed to get stronger. They would hope to get the rank of a seated officer, and sometimes they would even fantasize of becoming a lieutenant. Very few would even dream, with sober mind, to become a captain.

Yet here stood before him, wobbly legs and covered head to toe with sand sweat and blood, Otori Kaya who declared at least once a day to no one in particular that she would become a captain. She wasn't entirely without talent but she was so young, reckless, short tempered, unpredictable and annoying. On top of that she attracted troubles anywhere she went. The result was a catastrophic walking disaster. The thought of someone like that in such an influential position sent shivers down Byakuya's body.

"I told you its my dream!" the girl said energetically, miraculously recovering from her fatigue.

"I mean beside that foolish hallucination." Byakuya sighed "To be perfectly honest you are not that brilliant. What made you leave that hole in the rukongai and come all the way to the seireitei to try and become top ranked shinigami?".

She looked at him, her face serious like he never saw her before. There was a blazing tenacity in her eyes that almost made him recoil. But then she lowered her eyes, gloom taking over her features.

"If you are weak, you need to hide. You need to stay away from the strong ones." she said quietly, her shoulders drooping, she looked at the zanpakto in her gloved hand. "You cant go where ever you want, you cant do whatever you wish. You are limited by the strong, chained by your weakness. You are only allowed to dream of things that can never be reached.".

Byakuya starred at her. It was the first time he heard her talk like that. There was such a daunting helplessness in her voice that made her almost unrecognizable.

"So if you get strong you can break those limits." she continued, looking up to the sky "You can grow wings and soar away from the chains of weakness. You can be free." there was a weak, hopeless smile on her face when she finished.

"Dreams" he said and she looked back at him "are useless lies people tell themselves when reality is too harsh to face.".

"Say what?" she said angrily "How can you say that? Everyone have dreams, they help us get over hardships and gives us purpose. You don't know what its like when the only thing that keeps you alive is a dream, that maybe tomorrow will be better!".

"And is tomorrow better? If you just sit and hope will it make any difference? Dreams make you blind, and when you think you achieve your goal you wake up and realize that reality has nothing to do with your dream." he was getting angry. He couldn't stand this kind of lightheadedness, it could clouds one's judgment and lead you to death in the battlefield.

He noticed that she was shaking. Her fists were clenched, her muscles and veins popped. Her face was slightly red and her teeth were bare. Angry waves of reiatsu surged from her, making her hair stand.

"That's." she growled, sparks of lightning flying around her "Not." the ground under her feet sunk, breaking from the pressure "TRUE!" her eyes turned red and an enormous amount of spiritual energy exploded from her. A wave of ridiculously strong and foul spiritual pressure covered the entire Kuchiki training ground, sending dust, sand and rocks flying away.

The twisted reiatsu disappeared so fast that Byakuya wondered if he imagined it. The wind settled down and he lowered his hands, which were shielding his head, and looked for his disciple. She was standing exactly in the same spot, panting heavily, with her zanpakto in her hand, sealed. He himself was pushed away by the force of the blast. His hand were bleeding as well as some other parts of his body, his cloths torn in numerous places. He raised his own reiatsu as a shield in the last second, so most of the wounds were shallow, but he was still surprised from the amount of damage she inflicted on him.

"Sorry." she mumbled when he drew near.

"I find that hard to believe." he replied coldly.

"Well fine I'm not sorry!" she said fuming "Serves you right for looking down on my ambition!".

"Ambition is fine, but I wont have you walking around with your head in the clouds, dreaming your childish fantasy." he said, anger sneaking into his voice again.

"The clouds? That's what bothering you? That I look at the sky?" she said, annoyed.

"You know perfectly well that its not." he said harshly.

"Then what?" she yelled, spreading her arms to the sides in question "You said ambition is fine, whats the difference between ambition and dream?".

Byakuya took a deep breath before answering. "Ambition is wanting to accomplish something and having the motivation to do it, it is the drive to do what is necessary to get your goal. Dreams are visions of what you want to accomplish, you visualize your goal, and thats it. You see only the goal and nothing around it, not the way to get it or what consequences it might have.".

She looked at him defiantly "I'm here. I got here only because of my dream. And I'm taking this bullshit from you every fucking day just because I want to make my dream come true!".

"Watch your mouth, brat." He said warningly.

"No you watch your mouth!" She yelled, her anger rising again, "You think you are better then everyone just because you were born in a golden basket! Anything you have and take for granted, is like a life's fortune for people where I come from! Do you think its obvious that people sleep in a bed? Well guess what, if you are lucky enough to get yourself something better then wooden board to sleep on in my rukongai you will probably wake up with a knife in your throat! You don't know anything! You don't have a dream because you are leaving in one! A bird is not happy because it has wings, its the only way it knows how to live.".

"This conversation is pointless." he said, suspecting that if they keep talking he might actually kill her. "Renji is going to the world of the living tomorrow with the rookies, you will go with him.".

"Say what?" she blurted "Why do I have to go with the rookies?".

One of the good things about her rapidly changing mood was that it was easy to change topics even when her anger was raging.

"Because thats what I told you to do." he said, bracing himself for another foolish argument.

"Are you also coming?" she asked.

"Of course not, I have much more important things to do." he said, sneering slightly.

"So you are just trying to get rid of me. Again." she said sourly.

"How perceptive. And here I thought you were stupid." he said, rolling his eyes and starting to walk away toward the bathing house near the training ground.

"Hey wait! Captain" she yelled after him.

He stopped and looked back, raising an eyebrow. She only called him captain when she thought she might get something from it.

"Hey captain, could I use your bath? I mean I am kinda dirty and..." she said smiling hopefully and scratching her ear.

"Absolutely no." he said at once, remembering the last time she used the bath a few days ago and somehow drifted away to the deep part of the pool. He hurried to the place after feeling a surge of her reiatsu and after watching for a minute and realizing that she couldn't swim and was about to drown, he had to pull her out, to her great embarrassment. After spiting all the water she swallowed she punched him and yelled at him for starring at her intimate parts. He received another punch for dismissing such ridiculous accusation and assuring her that there is nothing to see even if he tried to look.

"You have a shower in your... Residence, use it." he said, refusing to call that place home.

"Yeah but it doesn't have hot water!" she said and hurried to close the distance between them.

"I already offered that you move to the barracks. Its free, it has hot water and its bigger then the trash can you are living in now." he said tiredly, hoping that she would just leave him alone. Dealing with her was so tiring.

"You forgot to mention that you get to see your stupid squad members every fucking hour of the day." she added grumpily.

Renji and Rukia also tried to convince her to move into the barracks, they couldn't understand how she could live in such a tiny inconvenient place, in one of the dirtiest corners of seireitei. Renji however said that if she moves into the barracks she is never to go even near his room.

"I am not having you drown yourself again and then hit me for helping you, not to mention those preposterous accusations..." he trailed off.

"You were starring at my boobs!" she exclaimed angrily.

"Nonsense." he said shortly, wondering why was he even answering her and not ordering her to leave him be.

"You said they were small!" she retorted.

"I most certainly did no such thing." he said and started walking to the bath.

"Yes you did." she said following him.

"No I did not."

"You did."

"Did not."

"Did."

"I did  _not!_ "

"Yes you did, captain Kuchiki, and your face is red." she said smiling broadly.

This caught him off guard.

"I did- what? No its-" this was getting ridiculous. Okay maybe he did stare. But not at her chest. He was generally astounded by her state of malnutrition. She was so skinny and her skin was stretched over her bones and the only thing that prevented her from looking like a skin covered skeleton was her well built muscles. Her collar bones, ribs and pelvis were sticking out quiet alarmingly. Her belly was only a bit sunken thanks to the well refined abdomen muscles. Her overall physical state looked pretty much abysmal. How could her body maintain her never stopping activity?

"Ha! You said you did! So now you owe me a bath as a compensation." she said, looking very proud of herself for outwitting him.

His face  _was_  growing hot, from remembering the absurd situation in which he was being clobbered by a naked girl less then half his size after saving her life.

"Very well." he said finally, "But do not drown yourself again since I wont be helping you this time. And don't repeat these despicable lies again".


	13. The brat, the cat and the hot chocolate

When Byakuya sent his apprentice to the human world he did it to have some peace and quiet. Since she joined his squad he spent most of his time training her, arguing with her and getting her out of troubles.

The arguing part was the most tiresome. If at first she just blurted nonsense, as time passed her arguments became more... Well phrased. Most of them were still utter foolishness but even those she managed to present in a witty way.

 _'Well at least if nothing else I succeeded in teaching her how to have a sensible conversation.'_  he thought.

But when he got to his office next day and thought a little on the meaning of sending the girl to the human world he realized how stupid it was.

Renji was taking the rookies to Karakura town. The place wasn't only a concentrated spiritual place but also the home to...  _The cursed cat monster._  Ahm, Shihoin Yoruichi that is.

Byakuya shuddered at the thought of the brat and Yoruichi meeting and comparing notes on the things that ticks him off.

He shook himself. What are the chances that they will meet Yoruichi? And even if by a ridiculous chance they will meet her, Yoruichi doesn't know who the brat is. She probably doesn't even know that he have an apprentice. Does she?

 _'Damn cat monster knows everything about anything.'_  he thought irritably _'Oh well, if Renji has any sense in his head he wont let the two meet.'._

* * *

It so happened that Renji did have the sense to take a route that would not get even close to the Urahara Shop or to the school in which Ichigo was. He just wanted to give the rookies a brief try at tackling hollows in the human world and preforming konso. Everything was going perfectly fine.

Except that after ten minutes Kaya disappeared. The last time Renji saw her was when he was explaining about the different ways to finish a hollow and she interrupted him. He told her to shut up and not interfere. It was probably then that she took off.

 _'Oh crap, I'm dead.'_  Renji thought miserably.

* * *

"Wow this place is... great" Kaya mumbled to herself as she jumped from roof to street lamp, surveying the busy street below her.

"Its like the rukongai just without the mortal danger." she smiled.

She tried to recall her life before she died and got to soul society, but couldn't remember anything. It all seemed blur, like a dream. The more she tried to remember the more blur it got. But she couldn't have been in the rukongai for more then five years... maybe seven...

Whoops! On the roof on which she was trying to land was sitting a cat. A black cat. But who cares, she is a spirit, she will just go thru the cat... Won't she? But how come the cat was looking straight at her.

All this thinking happened in Kaya's head in a split second while in midair just before landing, or to be more precise crashing into the cat.

Kaya and the cat rolled on the roof. There was a hissing sound and a male voice said "Hey aren't you looking where you jump?".

Kaya stumbled to her feet saying "Fucking crap why did you leave your cat here!" and then she froze.

First of all she was supposed to go thru the cat, so why did she bump into it?

Second she was supposed to be invisible, so how could someone see her?

And third she and the cat were the only ones on the roof, so who the hell was talking to her?

"Over here dummy!" the voice said again.

Kaya looked down and saw that the cat was looking straight at her again and this time it was talking.

"What kind of an half-assed shinigami are you?" it asked, the fur on its back standing.

"You" Kaya said, pointing at the cat "you are a cat!"

"What gave me away? The ears or the whiskers?" the cat said sarcastically.

"And you talk!" Kaya exclaimed, too amazed to hear the sarcasm.

"You don't miss a thing do you?" the cat snored.

"And you can see and touch me!" Kaya continued.

"Yeah alright get over yourself!" the cat said, spitting angrily.

"Jeez relax! Not every day I bump into a talking cat that can see spirits." Kaya said scratching her ear.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" the cat asked, sitting and licking its paw.

"I'm Otori Kaya!" Kaya bellowed raising her fist and making a flashy pose "I'm gonna be a captain!".

"Uh-huh" the cat said uninterestedly "and what are you doing here?".

"Well, I came with Renji, he's also a shinigami like me, and some rookies, from soul society, thats the spirit world, but it was boring as hell with them so I decided to do some exploring-" Kaya said but stopped when she noticed that the cat wasn't listening but instead was cleaning itself.

"Hey are you listening you lousy piece of flea bag!" Kaya yelled.

"Lousy piece of what?" the cat stopped cleaning itself and glared at Kaya.

"Blah whatever!" Kaya said angrily "Just fuck off, its beneath me to talk to stray cats, even if they can see me."

"What did you say?" the cat asked quietly.

"I said that you are a filthy dung bomb and you should listen when I introduce myself instead of licking your balls!" Kaya yelled.

"Licking my- are you looking for a fight?" the cat hissed, drawing its claws and arching its back, his fur rippling.

"Begone, my blade is not meant for the likes of you!" Kaya said smugly.

They looked at each other for a moment.

"What?" the cat said tilting its head to one side, surprised.

"Er.. I was being very cool right know.. and you kinda ruined it.." Kaya said in a chocked voice.

The cat laughed derisively, rolling on its back.

"Whats so funny?" Kaya asked quietly.

"Ha ha ha! Oh..." the cat stopped laughing and tried to catch its breath "Nothing you just remind me of someone I know, when he was a kid..."

"But... You are a cat..." Kaya said confused.

"You said you are with Renji? So does that mean you are from squad 6?" the cat asked, ignoring the last declaration.

"Yes but how do you know that? And how do you know Renji? You are just a cat!" Kaya asked, getting more confused every moment.

"I know a lot of things..." the cat said proudly, "So you lost Renji and now you are wondering around aimlessly?".

"I did no such thing! I'm here to have some fun!" Kaya said loudly.

"Oh really..." the cat said grinning, as much as a cat can grin "Then come with me, if you can catch up..".

"Are you challenging me?" Kaya asked bewildered "Know your place you lowly cat!", but before she finished, the cat was gone.

It used flash step! What the hell? Kaya hurried to catch up with it.

"Waaait!" Kaya yelled after the cat, struggling to keep up with the speed "Do you have a name? Or should I call you meow?".

"Yoruichi is fine." the cat called back.

"Yoruichi? Hey wait!" Kaya said. The name sounded familiar to her...

Kaya put up a great effort and closed up to the cat, she tried to catch it but only managed to grab the tail. The cat made an earsplitting meow, turned around and slashed ferociously at Kaya's face. Kaya managed to instinctively back off, thanks to all of Byakuya's surprise attack whenever she managed to really piss him off. The cat was very fast, however, and Kaya lost some strands of hair.

"Never touch my beautiful tail!" the cat growled angrily.

"Cease this nonsense its just a flipping tail" Kaya said breathlessly, the cat was so fast!

"Do you have a death wish you little punk?" the cat hissed menacingly, and it almost seemed that it towered over Kaya.

"Nothing in particularly." Kaya said backing off "But, Yoruichi have you ever been to soul society? I think I heard your name somewhere...".

"I might have been there, once or twice..." Yoruichi said evasively. "Come on I don't have all day you know.".

And they were off again.

* * *

"Oh no where can she be?" Renji growled in frustration.

He was on his way to Ichigo's school after looking for that moron Kaya all morning. Even with the help of the rookies he didn't find even a clue as to where she could have gone. He cursed her for finally learning to hide her reiatsu.

When he arrived at the school he looked for Ichigo's class. He peered thru the window and saw the orange haired substitute shinigami as well as Rukia in a middle of a lesson.

 _'Oh great'_  he thought as he tried to catch Rukia's eye. He wasn't in his gigai so no one could see him except for Ichigo's friends but still he didn't want to make a fuss.

Finally he caught her attention and when she cast a questioning look at him he pointed at her and at Ichigo and then outside the window.

Rukia starred at him for a minute and then picked her pan, aimed, and threw it at Ichigo's head.

"Aarrghh!" Ichigo yelled in surprise as the pan hit his head so hard that he smashed his head against the table.

"Oh no! Teacher it seems Ichigo is badly hurt! I will take him to the nurse!" Rukia said in her fake voice smiling widely at the teacher.

She then grabbed Ichigo and dragged him out of the room.

"Hm did she just throw a pan at Kurosaki?" mumbled one of the student.

"Don't be stupid! Rukia chan would never do such a thing." answered another.

"Ouch that was cruel..." said one of the rookies who for some reason climbed up the window to see what his senpai was looking at.

"What are you doing here! I told you to hide!" Renji snarled and pushed him down.

They both landed on the ground.

"Whats the point? No one can see us?" he said grumpily, massing his wild green hair.

"Don't argue with me Sakurai and go hide with the others! This place has an unusual large number of people who  _can_  see us!" Renji said and kicked Ryo in the direction of the other rookies.

"Renji? What are you doing here?" Ichigo and Rukia appeared.

"Oh just a little practice with some rookies..." Renji answered Ichigo.

"What happened Renji?" Rukia asked when she noticed that Renji looked very stressed.

"Err.. have you seen Kaya?" Renji asked in what he evidently thought was a matter of fact tone.

"Why would I see her? I've been in the human world during the last couple of days." Rukia said eying Renji suspiciously

"Well, she came with me today, to the human world, and..." Renji trailed off.

"You lost her." Rukia said sharply.

"NO!" Renji yelled frantically "I didn't lose her! I'm just not 100% sure where she is right now.".

"In other words you lost her." Rukia said, smirking.

"Who's Kaya?" Ichigo interrupted.

"Remember I told you about nii-sama having a student?" Rukia asked.

"Yeah..." Ichigo said slowly "The belligerent trouble-maker?"

"That's right. Her name is Otori Kaya and apparently" Rukia said rounding on Renji "Renji just set he loose on the human world.".

"Oh come on she can't be that bad." Ichigo said frowning "If Byakuya can stand her she can't be that much trouble...".

Rukia and Renji gave him dark looks.

"Oh you have no idea, Ichigo." Rukia said darkly, "Give her an afternoon and she could destroy this town.".

"Well actually" Renji said apologetically "I lost her few hours ago, and if nothing happened until now...".

"What?" Ichigo blurted "Then what if something happened to her?".

"We would have see or hear or feel if something happened to that crazy moron!" Renji said defensively.

As these words left Renji's mouth they all felt a faint surge of spiritual pressure from far away.

"Oh no." Renji mumbled, staring at the direction of the reiatsu.

Rukia took out her chappy soul candy and Ichigo took out his substitute shinigami tag.

Five minutes later they where at Urahara Shop. There was a trail of smoke coming out of the shop and the red haired Jinta was laying on the ground, looking as if he just got burned.

"Oi mister hat and clogs!" Ichigo called as Rukia went to check on Jinta.

"Kurosaki san! Abarai san! Kuchiki san!" Urahara Kisuke came out of the shop, his hat smoking.

"She just left." Kisuke said smiling.

"What? Who?" Renji asked confused.

"The hurricane girl." Kisuke said laughing faintly and fanning himself with his folding fan "She left with Yoruichi san.".

"Oh well then she won't get into troubles." Ichigo said relieved.

"OH NO!" Renji spluttered.

"Do you know where did they go?" Rukia asked.

"No idea." Kisuke said bowing apologetically "But I must say I was surprised to meet Otori san.".

"What do you mean?" Renji asked, almost crying in frustration.

"Well I heard of course about your brother" Kisuke inclined his head toward Rukia "having a disciple. However, I wasn't prepared for this".

"I don't think anyone can be prepared to Kaya." Rukia said.

"Well I think Yoruichi san is... She seemed delighted when she found out..." Kisuke said mysteriously, only his eyes visible as he held the fan in front of his face.

"Yeah thats what I'm afraid of." Renji said.

* * *

"Wow Byakuya really did that?" Kaya exclaimed following Yoruichi into the candy shop.

"Oh he sure did..." Yoruichi said, smiling devilishly "Okay next challenge. How many lollipops you think you can grab before that old lady leaves the shop?" she pointed at the old lady that was now paying for her candy.

"Errr.. I dunno..." Kay mumbled "More then you!" she added when she saw Yoruichi's evil smirk.

"Ready? Go!" Yoruichi said.

And they were off. Darting across the shop, snatching candies from the shelves and even from people's hands.

They spent the afternoon wondering around Karakura town, grabbing candies, snacks and all sort of food from any shop that caught their eyes. Everywhere they went, Yoruichi challenged Kaya to some sort of game, and after they finished (with Yoruichi winning every time...) they sat and ate their spoils while Yoruichi told Kaya stories about Byakuya's childhood, which Kaya found very interesting.

"Well how many you got?" Yoruichi asked 30 seconds later after they left the shop, rolling and laughing at the faces of the people in the shop as candies started flying around the room.

"Hmm" Kaya said breathlessly and spread her hands to show her haul.

"Hmm 1, 2, 4, 6.. thats not a lollipop!" Yoruichi picked a lemon flavored gum on a stick.

"Ah well close enough?" Kaya said hopefully.

"Nope." Yoruichi said and threw the candy away "Anyway, a total of 15. Very disappointing! I thought you could do better." she emptied her pockets.

A small pile of lollipops fell to the ground. There wasn't even need to count.

"Fucking assgoblin, I lost again... How are you doing that?" Kaya grunted, sitting on the floor and picking a lollipop.

"They don't call me Goddess of Flash for nothing." Yoruichi boasted.

"Showoff.." Kaya mumbled, putting the lollipop in her mouth.

Yoruichi smiled and looked away. She tried to sense if Ichigo and the others were still on their trail. But she couldn't sense anything. They were being followed since they left Urahara Shop. But Yoruichi challenged Kaya to a game of tag every time their pursuers got a little to close. Its been so long since she had so much fun. And this was Byakuya bo's disciple, the opportunity was too good to miss. Yoruichi's eyes positively sparkled when the girl said she was Byakuya's student. And the girl seemed so eager too when she found out that she, Yoruichi, and Byakuya used to hang out when they were younger. It didn't look like she noticed that they were being followed at all, and didn't seem to care much about losing Renji. But it was getting dark now and they couldn't keep with their mischief campaign today.

"Lets find a nice place to spend the night." Yoruichi said looking down on the girl that was sitting on the ground with 3 lollipops in her mouth.

"Hmm" the girl looked up questioningly.

"We can continue tomorrow." Yoruichi said kneeling beside her.

The girl took the lollipops out of her mouth with difficulty and said "Hey maybe I should go back now...".

"No don't be stupid!" Yoruichi said happily, slapping her shoulder "Just imagine what would happen if you don't come back by tomorrow.".

"Hmm a lot of troubles, terrified Renji and supremely pissed off Byakuya?" Kaya tried.

"Exactly!" Yoruichi cheered.

"I'm not sure if its a good idea..." Kaya said, her common sense finally kicking in after a whole day of dormant. She was having fun with Yoruichi, and for the first time in a while, her stomach was full, but still, she wondered if it was worth getting into troubles...

Then she remembered Byakuya sending her away when she annoyed him...

"Oh come on!" Yoruichi said slily "Ill tell you why Byakuya doesn't touch sweets anymore...".

* * *

Renji was dragging his feet to his and his captain's office that evening. He wasn't sure how to tell his captain that he lost Kaya. He walked as slowly as possible, stopping in every toilet on the way and even offered to help a squad member carry some paperwork. But eventually he found himself in front of the office door. After standing there for a whole minute, he took a deep breath, knocked and entered.

His captain was sitting at his desk, drinking something, and seemed to wait for Renji to open the door.

"You lost her." Byakuya said calmly. It wasn't a question. It was a fact.

"Aaahhhhhh!" Renji exclaimed in shock "How did you know?".

"You got back much later then you were suppose to, you were standing outside the door for a while now, you have a guilty face and" Byakuya said simply, putting the cup down "I don't see her scampering around.".

"Captain I'm so sorry, I just took my eyes off her for five seconds and she was gone!" Renji cried.

"I see." Byakuya said quietly. The truth was that his insides were burning. He spent most of his day imagining what might happen if the brat and the cat monster would meet.

He stood up and turned to the door.

"Captain? Where are you going?" Renji flinched.

"To find her of course. Before she destroys the Karakura town, or worse before someone finds out she is missing." Byakuya said  _'Or even worse then that before she bumps into Yoruichi.'._

"Hmm captain?" Renji said quietly, only partly relieved that his captain was taking the news so well "She is with Yoruichi.".

* * *

He found them, after searching into the night. He followed the trail of wrecked traffic lights and flooded public toilets until he picked the faintest sense of reiatsu of his least favorite Shihoin.

He found her sitting on a balcony drinking something.

"Yoruichi." he said as he landed quietly on the balcony's edge.

"Byakuya bo! I was looking for you!" Yoruichi said cheerfully toasting with her cup. Byakuya noticed that it was hot chocolate she was drinking.

"Fancy that, I was looking for you as well." he said sarcastically.

"What a small world!" Yoruichi teased.

When he didn't say anything she offered him her cup.

"Want some?" she asked grinning.

"Never." he said coldly.

Yoruichi giggled and drank some of the hot liquid. "It wont affect you. You have taken much larger doze and stayed up." she pointed at the inside of the room. Byakuya could see a small figure sprawled awkwardly on a couch, clearly in deep sleep.

"Not very bright is she? She drank it right after I told her about your little chocolate experience." Yoruichi said impishly.

"What were you planing to do?" Byakuya asked, frowning "Don't tell me you are into molesting little girls now?".

"Molesting? Ha ha ha!" Yoruichi laughed derisively "No I was actually waiting for her to fall asleep so I can take her cloths off. Then I was going to go look for you and watch your face go red when you find her.".

There was no doubt in his mind that Yoruichi would have carry out her plan if he got there a little later.

Yoruichi got up and gave him her cup, then she turned and got into the room. Byakuya threw the cup off the balcony and followed her.

"Well since I'm here and your plan has failed Ill take her and be gone." he said.

"Oh don't be like that." Yoruichi said disappointed, "How about a game of tag before you leave?"

"No." he said but before he could say anything else Yoruichi grabbed the girl and a pillow and darted to the window.

He moved to block her path but she threw the pillow at him.

"Way of the Shihoin, secret technique." she said.

Byakuya braced himself for what ever she was going to do.

"Feather screen escape!" and the room was filled with feathers. When the feathers were cleared she was gone. Escaped thru the window.

"Yoruichi!" he hissed angrily and followed.

Five minutes later they were running along rooftops, jumping from roof to roof, like stray cats in an endless chase.

"Bring back the old times eh, Byakuya bo?" Yoruichi called at him.

He didn't answer. He was very angry now. Even with the brat's extra weight she could still outrun him.

 _'Damn cat monster.'_  he thought angrily. True the brat didn't weigh that much, but still...

The girl was deeply asleep, she would awake only in about half an hour. He knew since Yoruichi used that drug on him countless times in the past. On its own, the powder was harmless. Mix it with sugar, and it became a very strong and sleep inducing sedative. When she wakes up, the girl will be dizzy for hours.

"Come on Byakuya bo! You will have to do better then that if you want to get her back! I thought you liked her!" Yoruichi teased.

He wasn't ready for that, his legs tumbled and he fell. He broke his fall with his hand and looked up angrily at Yoruichi. She stopped running and looked back at him, grinning maliciously.

"You thought wrong." he said quietly.

"Oh cooome onnn." she said exasperatedly "Why else would you suffer such a big mouthed troublemaker?".

"I've been asking myself that question every day." Byakuya said dully.

"Byaku-bo and Kaya sitting on a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g." Yoruichi chanted in a sing song voice and laughed.

"How very mature. Just put her down and go away." Byakuya said, feeling his face go red.

"But we are having so much fun!" she called and started running again.

In a second he was in front of her, blocking her way. She smirked and ran the other way, so he chased her again. Just when he thought he might catch her she crouched low and slide underneath him. He turned around quickly and came face to face to face with...

Yoruichi's breast.

Before he had time to respond he felt a heel in his stomach. He staggered back, breathless.

"I thought we were playing tag." he said grumpily, his face hot.

"We can change the rules a bit... We are not kids anymore." Yoruichi said laughing.

"Oh really? Well, you had me fooled."

The girl on Yoruichi's shoulder was starting to stir.

"Well it seems like our sleeping beauty is waking up sooner then I expected." Yoruichi said and laid the girl down, "Game over for tonight Byakuya bo. Then again it may just begin for you." she smirked.

"Hm I don't know what you are talking about, Yoruichi."

"Oh come on admit it! You agreed to take this girl because she reminds you of me!" she laughed and disappeared.

"Preposterous." he mumbled, altho Yoruichi was too far to hear him.


	14. Lost and Delirious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used Senbonzakura as seen in the anime filler "zanpakto unknown tales".

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled, sliding open the door of the closet in which she was sleeping.

"What?" Ichigo bellowed jumping from his homework, rubbing his eye.

"Did you feel it?" Rukia asked, starring out of the window.

"No, what was I suppose to feel?" Ichigo asked annoyed and starred at his substitute tag. It was quiet.

"I think... I felt nii-sama's spiritual pressure..." Rukia said quietly.

"Huh? Byakuya?" Ichigo asked surprised.

"How many other brothers do I have? Of course Byakuya!" Rukia said snappishly.

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming? I mean why would Byakuya come to the human world?" Ichigo said scratching his head with a pencil.

"Probably because Renji didn't find Kaya... Nii-sama came to look for her..." Rukia said thoughtfully.

"Emm Rukia? This is Byakuya we are talking about. Somehow I don't see him running to look for his lost subordinates, especially since according to what you told me about this Kaya I'm sure Byakuya would be more then happy to get rid of her." Ichigo said, going back to his homework.

"Ichigo don't talk about nii-sama like that! He takes his duty very seriously, and he wont sit and do nothing while one of his squad members got lost and can possibly be in danger!" Rukia said angrily, kicking Kon, who was trying to crawl into her closet, at Ichigo's face.

"He hates her!" Ichigo bellowed, peeling Kon of his face and throwing him at the wall, "And danger my ass! She is with Yoruichi! They are probably playing 'lets destroy Karakura town and piss off Byakuya on the way' while laughing their heads off!".

They starred at each other for a minute, their faces blank.

"Maybe we should go check things out." Ichigo said.

* * *

Byakuya took the girl back to the flat in which he found Yoruichi earlier. He thought it best to wait until the effect of the drug wears off completely before returning to soul society. He also wanted to keep an eye on her until she sobers up. He didn't want to think what chaos she could conjure when she wakes up, still tipsy from the drug, not to mention the damage she would inflict on herself.

He set her down on the couch and took the empty mug that was on the table. He put it in the sink and noticed a pot of hot chocolate on the stove.  _'Better get rid of it.'_ he thought as he poured the whole content of the pot into the sink as well.

He started pacing along the room, wondering what he should do. He stopped pacing abruptly and sat down on the floor, his sword in his lap. He would meditate until the havoc wrecking girl would wake up. Come to think of it, she might not wake up at all until morning, and she wont even remember that she was being drugged.

" _I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you, master."_ the voice of his zanpakto echoed in his mind.

"I don't remember asking your opinion, Senbonzakura." he replied.

 _"You came to see me..."_ the spirit pointed out.

"I am merely trying to clear my mind." he said coldly, realizing that he was indeed in his inner world.

 _"Your mind is clear as ever, master, which brings the question why are you not leaving the pesky girl in the mess she has foolishly brought upon herself?"_ the masked warrior said politely.

"You suggest I just leave her to wake up and wonder around drunkenly in a place she have never been to before?" Byakuya asked, knowing that the spirit's thoughts were exactly as he said.

 _"Precisely."_ the spirit said, clearly happy that his master was getting the idea so quickly  _"It maybe a good opportunity to rid yourself of that nuisance of a girl."_.

"What is it to you?" Byakuya inquired, surprised at the spirit's clear dislike for the girl.

The masked samurai never before displayed such animosity to anyone, he usually regarded most people as unworthy of his attention, much like his master. Some people he regarded with restrained respect, like Kurosaki Ichigo, whom his master fought against more then once.

From what the spirit told him, Byakuya learned that whenever two shinigami fought, the spirits sleeping in their swords also engaged each other. They weren't exactly fighting, like their shinigami masters, and they weren't exactly talking. They were... "brushing against each other" as Senbonzakura said when he tried to explain to his master the exact nature of this kind of encounter.

 _"I just cant stand that obnoxious spirit of her."_ Senbonzakura hissed angrily.

"What do you mean?" Byakuya asked even more surprised. Usually his spirit described his opponents as "weak", "insignificant", "boring" and rarely "strong" or "interesting". Obnoxious was new.

 _"Its hard to explain."_ the spirit said slowly.

"Do try. I find your unusual interest in the girl quiet disturbing." Byakuya said coldly.

 _"If something should disturb you, master, its **your**  unusual interest in the girl." _the spirit said again in that annoyingly polite tone.

"Nonsense." Byakuya said at once, "She is my disciple so its my duty to observe her growth. That's the only interest I have in her.".

 _"Oh master"_ Senbonzakura said almost pitifully  _"you can lie to her, but you were staring at her-"._

"You are changing the subject." Byakuya interrupted his insolent zanpakto.

 _"I was under the impression that we were discussing your foolish apprentice?"_  the spirit said offended.

"We were discussing her spirit that you seem to highly dislike." Byakuya said angrily.

 _"Well fine."_ Senbonzakura said, annoyed that he couldn't discuss the topic that seemed to be on his master's mind too much lately,  _"He is just unbearable, and I'm not talking about the fact that he is annoying and can't keep his mouth shut."._

"He? The manifestation of her zanpakto is a male?" Byakuya asked amazed.

 _"Well yes... The flying thunder god **,** as he calls himself... does it matter?" _the spirit wondered.

"Not really... it just makes sense that males will have male spirits and females will have female spirits..." Byakuya said slowly.

 _"Making sense is not something this girl seem to excel in... Anyway Hiraishin just feels wrong... Its like he is... Out of place.."_ the spirit trailed off.

"Out of place? You yourself are not making much sense today." Byakuya said frowning.

_"How can I explain it to you... Lets say that you are standing in the human world in a place full of people, and the humans can see you, wearing your shihakusho. They would know immediately that you are different, because you don't look like them, but they wont know why you are different because they have never seen a shinigami, and they cant even sense spiritual pressure."._

"I think I understand what you are trying to say." Byakuya said slowly.

 _"I have never met a spirit like that..."_ Senbonzakura continued,  _"Each spirit looks and feels different, but... this one is different in a different way."._

Byakuya didn't say anything. He thought for a while about the occasional bursts of alien spiritual pressure coming from the girl and wondered if it had anything to do with her "different" spirit.

 _"I am sure there is a connection"_ the spirit said, reading his master's thoughts  _"I am not sure how or why, but there is definitely something wrong with that girl's spirit"._

"Yooo..." a drowsy voice put an end to the shinigami-zanpakto conversation.

Byakuya got up and went to the couch in which his subordinate was sleeping. Her eyes were half open and she looked around dazedly, her head drooping heavily.

She noticed him and stood up shakily on the couch. While standing on the couch their eyes were at the same level.

"Yo... uichi?" she asked in a slow, heavy voice.

"Try again." he said, observing her closely.

She leaned toward him and he had to catch her before she fell off the couch. She squinted at him, their faces only few centimeters apart, and raised her hand. Byakuya's hands were busy preventing her from falling so he couldn't grab her hand, but she only grabbed one of the bangs that fell on his face. She pulled gently.

"Bya...ya?" she said faintly, her voice barely more then a whisper.

"Correct." he said, pushing her off and hoping she would let go of his hair.

Thankfully she did, and was now standing wobbling on the couch supported by his hands, which were on her waist.

She stood there starring, her eyes focusing on his face with difficulty, and her mouth was slightly open.

"Bya...? Were you... always... this handsome?" she said slowly tilting her head to one side.

"Probably." he said, frowning and letting go of her waist, hoping she wont remember anything in the morning.

 _"You just touched her waist master, nothing improper compared to what you've been thru.."_ Senbonzakura said patiently.

 _'Be quiet you damn ghost.'_ Byakuya thought angrily.

"Lets... Play tag!" the girl said tiredly.

"No." he said instantly trying to ignore the spirit of his zanpakto that was now listing a number of things a man can do to a drugged girl.

"You... Are... It!" she said and pushed him weakly. She then jumped off the couch, crashed spectacularly on the floor, got up, wobbled drunkenly for a second and fell on her back.

Byakuya sat on the now empty couch and massaged his temples.

"Byaaaa.." the girl cried from the floor, "Your... S'pose to... Chase meee...".

"We are not going to play tag." he said and looked up.

He was surprised to see her crouching on the table, leaning close to him. Her eyes were wide open now, but still unfocused.

"Pssst." she whispered, putting a hand near her mouth "Wanna hear a secret?".

"No." he said and leaned back to get away from her.

"I'm actually a spirit from soul society!" she whispered loudly and leaned closer to him, putting a hand on his knee for support "And I can walk thru walls!".

"Really?" he said, leaning back so far that he was almost swallowed by the couch.

"Yeah Ill show you!" she said excitedly.

She jumped off him. Stood on the edge of the table and bended her knees, putting her hands in front of her as tho she was going to jump head first into a pool.

"No, don't!" he said, but too late.

There was a dull thud when her head hit the wall.

"Ouch.." she mumbled from the floor.

"Maybe this wall is made of cats... Cuz I cant go thru cats..." she mumbled when he peeled her off the floor.

"Yes of course." he said as he laid her on the couch and sat near her to examine her head. There was a small bump where she hit the wall. He parted her hair to see if there is anything more life threatening than that when her hands caught one of his.

"Bya... that tickles..." she said, sounding tired again.

She brought his hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles. Startled, he tried to pull his hand away, but she held it tightly. She pulled herself up until her head and torso were in his lap.

"Don't you have... a dream?" she said faintly, her eyes closing, "Where are your...wings...?". And she fell asleep.

Byakuya felt his face grow hot for the who knows what time tonight. He didn't want to stay in this awkward position all night, but he also didn't want to wake her up.

* * *

"Are you seeing what I see?" Rukia asked, amazed.

"Well only if you see Byakuya sleeping with a little girl in his lap." Ichigo said, also shocked.

It was past midnight when they finally found Byakuya. But they were not prepared to the sight in front of them.

They expected to find the two, maybe Yoruichi as well, engaged in a fight, or maybe the aftermath of such fight.

Rukia did not expect to look thru a window and see her brother sitting on a couch, seemingly asleep, and Kaya coddling on his knees.

"Eh... is that Kaya?" Ichigo asked after a long and embarrassed silence.

"Well... yes..." Rukia said slowly, still having difficulty believing what she saw.

"She looks pretty young... Altho you can never tell with you people from soul society" Ichigo mused.

"I think... Actually I'm pretty sure she is not much older then you..." Rukia said thoughtfully.

"Wow that would practically make her a baby compared to Byakuya... Lets see... If you are around 100 years old, and Byakuya is your older brother, that would probably make him around 200... If Kaya is 15 then it means..." Ichigo muttered, making calculations in his head.

"What on earth are you on about?" Rukia wondered.

"Well then there's nothing for us to do here unless you want to call the social services..." Ichigo said abruptly.

"Social services?" Rukia asked frowning at Ichigo.

"Yeah to report about a statutory rape." he said and jumped off the balcony to the street below.

"Ichigo you idiot!" Rukia said landing beside Ichigo and kicking him "How dare you suggest that my brother would do such a-".

"Stop it damnit! It was a joke! Just a goddamned joke!" Ichigo yelled and tried to protect himself from the barrage of kicks Rukia was raining on him.

* * *

It was a very long night for Byakuya. Long and highly embaressing. The girl woke up a few times and wondered around the room drunkenly.

She complained that it was too hot and almost took off her cloths and tried to take a bath in the sink before Byakuya stopped her.

She said something about a lollipop and turned over the whole room looking for it. She declared she was going to the well to sell some flying mice before smashing into the door and falling asleep again.

She woke up later and pulled him to the floor, tagging on his hakama, demanding to know if he really thinks she looks like a cat. When he pushed her off after assuring her that he did not think she looked like a cat, she lay on her back with her hands to the sides and said shyly "Okay but be gentle...". He pushed himself quickly of the floor, much to the amusement of his zanpakto, and pulled his hakama back up.

He didn't know when he fell asleep, but he woke up when he felt a small tag on his garments. He opened his eyes and saw a faint glow illuminating the dark sky which meant that the sun was about to rise. He looked down at the small hand that was pulling his cloths, and noticed that its owner was up. Her eyes were partly open and she gazed groggily at him. She looked very tired and exhausted. She screw her face as tho trying to remember something. She didn't seem to register the position they were in. He was lying on his back along the couch and she, on top of him, her legs wrapped tightly around one of his. He couldn't quiet remember how they got into this awkward position and wasn't sure he wanted to. Just when he thought she might go back to sleep she spoke.

"It wasn't a dream, was it?" she mumbled faintly.

"It depends on what you mean?" he said carefully, not sure if the drug's effects wore off or not.

"A lollipop, mice," she said, thinking hard, "an unpleasant meeting with the floor and the wall... Something about cats... and... and..." her face went red.

She looked down at him, finally realizing where she was and who she was talking to, released his leg and fell off the couch.

Byakuya got up, rolling his eyes, and stretched.

"Get up, if we leave now we might get some hours of sleep before the day starts." he said, not looking at her. He was quiet surprised that she remembered that much.

"W-wait!" she spluttered, getting up, "What happened? I mean, did I do something... errrr" she struggled to find a fitting word.

"Inappropriate?" he offered.

"Yes that it! Inappropriate!".

"Assuming you do not see running away from Renji and causing mayhem with Yoruichi as inappropriate?"

"Hmm yeah." she said smiling apologetically. She didn't really think she could get away unpunished after all the fun she had yesterday.

"No".

"Huh? What do you mean no?" she asked.

"You seem to remember quite a lot of what happened so I see no reason to summarize it for you." he said quietly.

She noticed that he didn't look at her all this time, and looking down on herself she realized why. Her kimono was half open. Not revealing anything except a protruding collarbone, but still improperly tucked.

"Why are you looking away like that?" she asked, stuffing the kimono back into her obi, "You've already seen me naked. Twice!".

"I have no desire to make it thrice..." he said dully.

"Why? Are you gay?" she said, looking at him with amazement.

"What?" he looked at her, astounded that she actually said what she did.

"You know, gay? As in a guy who likes to fuck other guys?" She said, surprised that he didn't know what gay mean.

"I know what a gay is. I was merely wondering how you arrived at such faulty conclusion about me." he said irritably.

"I didn't make it up." Kaya shrugged, "Almost half the times I'm in the toilet there are girls talking about you. I heard more then one of your fans complaining that you are probably gay, which is why you don't have a girlfriend..."

"My... Fans?" Byakuya muttered, massaging his temple.

"Yeah!" She grinned, "Rowdy lot, I think even you will get a hard on when you'll hear their fantasies about you." then her face fell, "Grownups are so disgusting.".

"I assure you that I do not find men attracting, so you can get this ridiculous thought out of your head. As for not wanting to see you naked again, the abysmal state your body is in is... Disturbing.".

"Say what? My body is in top shape!" She said and flexed her arm.

"No, you are too skinny." He sighed.

"Well thanks, you are not bad looking either." she replied brightly.

"I am serious. I don't know what you are eating, if indeed you are eating, but you need to have a balanced diet if you want to function properly." he said, pushing away the concern that sneaked into his mind "Or at least keep your bones inside your body.".

She looked at him for a minute, a weird surprised look on her face.

"Wow Byakuya... I... I Didn't know you cared..." she said sheepishly, smiling half a smile.

"I don't!" he said immediately, before she could get the wrong idea "As I said, your performance would improve if you eat properly.".

"You know..." she said suddenly in a business like tone "You can be real charming when you want to.".

"I have not the slightest idea what you mean by that." he said, cursing his ears for turning red.

"You came searching for me when I didn't return, you looked after me all night while I was delirious and you didn't try to take advantage of me even once." she grinned "And you seem to be very concerned about my well being...".

"Don't ever make me waste my time looking for you again and know your place, brat." he said coldly.

"Jee you don't have to be so gay..." she mumbled grumpily.

Before he could stop himself he grabbed the girl by the collar of her shihakusho and pulled her close to him, slightly lifting her so that she was forced to look at him.

"I. Am. Not. Gay." He hissed menacingly, gaining huge satisfaction when she flinched as their bodies collided.

"Nope, I don't think you are." She said, wincing, "Unless thats your zanpakto under your pants.".

He let go of her immediately. He didn't even noticed that his nether region was uncomfortably stiff. What the hell was wrong with him?

"Oh come on, you just spent the night with a girl wrapped around your leg, only a gay wouldn't get a boner..." the girl said, looking very amused.

He couldn't help but get annoyed at the casualness she was handling that embarrassing situation.

"You do not seem to be disturbed by the night events..." he said nonchalantly, completely opposite to the nervousness he felt inside. If anyone ever finds out what happened tonight... The foul rumors that would fly...

She looked away, scratching her ear, a weird expression on her face. I was a mixture of sadness, regret and a sort of submissive consent.

"I've already seen a dick." she said indifferently, shrugging.

For the first time, Byakuya felt sorry for the girl. But why was he surprised? There is no way a small, underfed girl could survive in the 80th rukongai long enough to learn how to use a sword. She probably had a patron of some sort, a strong ruffian, that protected her from the other scoundrels. In return for a payment of course.

His compassion probably leaked to his face because when she looked back at him she startled.

"Hey don't look at me like that!" She exclaimed loudly, a look of revulsion twisting her face "I said I've seen a dick, not that I was a whore! Did you think I... Oh my god! Grownups are so disgusting!".

"You said you have seen a man's penis, and you talk about intercourse in such a casual way, so I thought-" he started, not sure how to finish, and was glad when she interrupted him.

"No, stop, I don't wanna hear what you thought!" She bellowed angrily, "Get yourself a girlfriend and go get laid. I'm sure it won't be difficult for you so just stay away from me you filthy hypocrite!".

"What?" He blurted, his eyes widening in shock. How dare she talk to him like that?

"Look, it was very noble of you not to have your way with me tonight, but it won't work between us. I understand that, even if you deny it, you are a man, and you have needs, and you get uncomfortable with a girl hanging around you all day, and you are probably sick of masturbating, but we are not meant for each other. Don't get me wrong, I think you look very attractive but you are not my type. I'm pretty sure that I'm also not your type. You are a noble and I'm a nobody. I talk a lot, you don't talk at all. You are too old for me, no offense. Plus you hate me from the core of your soul." She said very quickly, stopping to breath only when she finished talking.

Byakuya tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow, starring at the girl in disbelief. Could she still be under the effect of the drug? No way... It only last for couple of hours...

"You... Got it all wrong." he said blankly, fully aware of the idiocy of such words.

"Which part?" She asked, screwing her face at him.

"Do you really think that I am attracted to you?" He said, blinking at her.

"Well, you are a guy. I'm a girl. I don't know if attracted is the right word... But you see" she said wisely "there are hormones in the body that make people need sex, and I'm pretty sure I'm correct in saying that you didn't get off in a very long time, so you have an accumulation of unfulfilled desire. Seeing as you don't hang around females too much it didn't bother you until now, but now that I'm here-"

"Alright thats enough!" he said sharply "I am being lectured about carnal knowledge by a silly brat who didn't even have her puberty yet...".

 _"And you seem to be enjoying yourself..."_ Senbonzakura pointed out.

"Say what?" she blurted and was about to keep talking when he poked her painfully between the eyes.

"I said thats enough. You are giving me a headache." he said glumly.

Her shoulders drooped and she made a sour face as she rubbed her brow.

"Wheres my zanpakto?" she said after finally noticing that it was not with her.

Byakuya mentioned his head toward the counter near the sink on which he placed both their zanpakto earlier.

She went over to the counter and looked down at the two swords. She didn't immediately picked her own but kept looking at the two weapons. She tilted her head to one side and made a little "hmm" of thinking. She then raised her hand and tried to pick up Senbonzakura.

Before her fingers touched the white scabbard a hand closed around her wrist. She looked up and saw Byakuya looking down at her, frowning angrily.

"I have no intention to take it, I just want to compare it with Hiraishin." she said indignantly.

Her politeness stung his ears. He let go of her wrist, picked his zanpakto and unsheathed it, holding it in front of him.

"Compare then.".

She took her own zanpakto and unsheathed it as well, holding it next to his.

"Your zanpakto is too long." she said after looking up and down the sword in his hand.

"Don't be a fool, its normal length. Yours is too short." he said.

The girl frowned. It seem she just now realized that her zanpakto was less then half the length of his.

"Can you converse with your zanpakto?" Byakuya asked suddenly, remembering his earlier conversation with Senbonzakura.

"What?" she asked distractedly, still studying the two zanpakto.

"Can you talk to the spirit of your zanpakto?" he asked clearly, "Can you talk to Hiraishin?".

"Ah yeah sure." she said evasively and sheathed her weapon.

"You can't." he said, slightly disappointed.

"Yes I can!" she said angrily, "I just don't want to thats all!".

"You don't want to?" he repeated, frowning.

The girl looked away sourly, and scratched her ear.

"He's annoying. I don't like talking to him.".

This surprised him. Senbonzakura not liking the girl's zanpakto is one thing, but the girl to not like her own zanpakto is something completely different. The fact that both his zanpakto and the girl described him as "annoying" was also very suspicious.

Byakuya let go of the subject because he felt that soon he will be too tired to have a sensible conversation, especially since his partner wasn't making much sense herself.

He opened the Senkaimon and, grabbing the girl around the waist and hoisting her over his shoulder, stepped thru the open gate into the dark Dangai.

Once inside he begun running along the dark, seemingly endless tunnel.

"Oi!" the girl shouted angrily "Why aren't we using those butterfly thingies?".

"Because I don't have any Jigokucho with me." Byakuya answered.

"Yes I can see that! I was merely wondering why you didn't feel the necessity to bring some with you!" she yelled sarcastically.

"It seem you have a lot of energy, would you like to run on your own?" he asked.

"Ah maybe next time." she said and fell silent.

She knew perfectly well that right now he was running faster then she ever did in her life. She heard stories in the academy about young shinigami who lost their hell butterfly in the Dangai and were never seen again. She was sure half of them were bullshit, cooked up by the teachers, to scare young students into obedience. But now when she was actually in the Dangai she had no doubt that someone could get stuck in it forever.

The truth was that Byakuya didn't take any Jigokuchi with him was that he didn't want any more people to know that his foolish subordinate got lost in the human world, and more importantly that he himself, captain in the Gotei 13, had to go to bring her back.

* * *

_He pushed her down easily with one hand, his ravenous red eyes wide with excitement. With a swift motion he removed the filthy rags that were her cloths and a moment later his top half clothing joined hers on the floor._

_She tried to resist, but her limbs were frozen in fear. She felt her heart sink to her belly, which grew uncomfortably worm._

_His hand twitched as they moved over her naked form, to her neck, which he could encircle entirely with only one of his hands. She could feel his fingers strained as they closed on her neck, obviously fighting the urge to crash her throat as it was so adept at. As gently as could someone like him, he tilted her head back, baring her neck to him._

_They were both sweating. She from fear, him from wild excitement, as well as sheer effort to contain his murderous thrill. He was so much bigger then her, and probably more then twice her weight, that pinning her down was no effort for him at all. Of course, his close proximity and the heavy reiatsu he radiated were more then enough to stop her from running..._

_As she swallowed she felt his fingers tighten momentarily and he let out a sharp gasp. His hand moved to her hair, closing painfully on her filthy, matted brown strands._

_He lowered his face to her neck, panting hungrily against her skin. For a moment he just hovered there, his teeth bared, slightly touching the side of her throat, breathing heavily in an attempt to fight his brutal instincts..._

"No!" Kaya cried as she was snapped out of her dream.

She was sitting upright, her hand massaging the side of her neck.

 _'Morning already?'_ she wondered as she looked at the window to see the sun shining brightly.

She laid back starring up at the ceiling, taking long deep breaths.

 _'He can't find me here. He will never be able to get into the seireitei without being noticed...'_ she reassured herself.

"Why do I keep having these fucking dreams..." she muttered.

* * *

"Morning Renji!" she said brightly and continued on her way.

"Don't "morning" me you punk! I'm gonna kill you! You know how much troubles you put me into?" Renji barked at her.

"Troubles?" she wondered, turning to face the seething Renji "Did Byakuya scold you?".

"Wha?" Renji staggered at her concern "No he didn't.".

"Did he punish you?" she asked, still with that worried look.

"No."

"Hit you?"

"No."

"Yelled at you?"

"No..."

"Kicked you out of his office?"

"No!"

"Insulted you?"

"No goddammit!"

"Suggested you go kill yourself?"

"NO of course not!" Renji yelled now red faced.

"Then congratulation Renji, you are not in trouble!" Kaya said smiling cheerfully "In fact I think Byakuya is rather fond of you. In a professional way of course, 'cause I know for a fact that he is  _not_  gay.".

"What the? You idiot, stop with the- with that nonsense!" Renji bellowed.

"I think the term you meant is "bullshit", Renji. You should be true to yourself." she said calmly.

"Enough with the smooth talking you moron! And you can't go to the captain's office, he is in an important meeting.".

"A meeting?" Kaya asked, sounding thoroughly bewildered.

"Yes a meeting! What, do you think the world turns around you? Captain has other things he need to do beside babysitting you." Renji said scornfully.

"Yeah what ever. Don't you have things you need to be doing? Instead of shouting at me?".

"Of course I do-" Renji stammered, confused that she gave up the argument so quickly.

"Then be on your way, young Renji, and may the force be with you." Kaya said and bowed mockingly.

She left Renji, who was standing with his mouth open, and continued her way to the 6th squad.

Yesterday Yoruichi showed her screen that humans use to watch "movies" using a flat discs that were fed into the machine. The movie was called "star wars" or something like that and was about a shinigami like human with glowing swords that drew power from what they called "the force". Kaya enjoyed the movie and was amazed to see some humans who looked like the weirdos from squad 12. There was even a princes that looked disturbingly like Kurotsuchi Mayuri.

Arriving at the corridor that led to Byakuya's office, Kaya noticed that there was someone standing outside the office. Getting closer, Kaya was repulsed to recognize the person as Tadashi Soga.

The pink haired Soga stood with her back against the wall and leaning slightly forward on her zanpakto, which she held in front of her. The zanpakto was touching the ground but was still long enough that it reached almost to Soga's chin.

 _'That sword is almost as tall as I am.'_ Kaya thought resentfully.

"Oh what are you doing here?" Soga asked, smiling maliciously "The trash disposal unit is at squad 4."

The Kaya from few weeks ago, before she joined squad 6, would have lashed out, cursing and spitting, and drawing her sword. But after hanging around Kuchiki Byakuya for a while, Kaya learned that a well chosen refined words could hurt worse then the most foul word and the sharpest sword. So she smiled too, resisting the urge to yell and draw her zanpakto.

"Yes I know, they were looking for their pink duster so I told them I think I saw it leaning against the wall near Byakuya's office and Ill go and make sure." Kaya said kindly.

Soga's face twisted in rage, "What did you say, you lowly rukon filth?".

"Oh I'm sorry did I stater?" Kaya said, still smiling "Or maybe you didn't hear me? If thats the case I suggest you take your head out of your ass. That way you won't only hear better, but you will also notice that this is my squad. So actually the question that needs to be asked is what are  _you_  doing here?".

Soga looked at Kaya furiously, her eyes wide, gripping her zanpakto very tightly.

"One day you will pay for all your insults, you little beast. And when that day comes-" Soga whispered thru clenched teeth, but stopped when Kaya walked by her to the office's door.

"Be sure to give me a head on, I wouldn't want to miss a training with my captain.".

She opened the door before Soga could string another word.

Inside she saw Soga's captain, Kyoraku Shunsui, sitting across from her own captain. The pink covered captain was sitting slightly lopsided, a small glass of what was undoubtedly sake in his hand. He stopped talking just when Kaya entered the office. Byakuya was sitting stiffly in his chair, looking supremely annoyed, and a bottle of sake stood in the middle of his desk. When he saw Kaya opening the door he looked almost happy to see her. Almost.

"Kaya chan!" Kyoraku bellowed happily.

"You can't go in!" Soga came after Kaya and grabbed her by the apper arm.

"If you don't remove your hand I will have to spray your guts across the wall, and I'm afraid my captain wont be happy If you make such a mess in his office." Kaya said forcing herself to keep smiling.

"I'd love to see you try." Soga hissed coldly, tightening her grip.

"Now now girls its too early in the morning to be shooting sparks at each other!" Kyoraku said merrily and got up "Close the door won't you, Soga chan?".

Soga let go of Kaya and closed the door.

"An important meeting eh?" Kaya said, eying the bottle of sake.

"Captain Kyoraku, captain Kuchiki, I'm so sorry for the interruption but I did try to stop her and-" Soga started.

"That's alright Soga chan, me and Byakuya were just talking about you as a matter of fact." Kyoraku said and placed an over-friendly hand around Soga's shoulders.

"Hmm me, captain?" Soga said, looking shyly at Byakuya and blushing.

Kaya made a small noise of disgust, but no one heard her. One look on Byakuya's face told her that the noise she made reflected perfectly what he felt.

"You and Kaya chan!" Kyoraku said happily, "I've been thinking you two should get together and spend some quality time! You know do some girls stuff! Have fun!".

There was a stunned silence in the room. Kyoraku coughed.

"Ahm after you train a bit of course." he said, imitating a serious voice.

"Wh-what?" Soga broke the silent, almost shrieking "Captain why do I have to train with-with  _her_?".

"Yeah captain sake, if you want to get rid of your student just do it yourself." Kaya said resentfully, feeling the fake smile peeling off her face.

"How dare you talk to my captain like that!" Soga hissed, gripping the handle of her sword.

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all."Kaya said dramatically.

"That's enough." Byakuya opened his mouth for the first time. He got up and picked the bottle of sake off his desk.

"Thank you Kyoraku, I will think about that offer. I think its best you leave now before your lieutenant comes and ridiculously accuse you of drinking while on duty." Byakuya said and handed the bottle to Kyoraku.

"Right you are Kuchiki." Kyoraku said tipsily and turned to his protege "Lets go Soga chan, we might get some free time before Nanao chan finds us.".

Byakuya closed the door after them and turned to look at Kaya.

"Sometimes it is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." he said.

"You welcome, for saving you from that drunken old geezer." she said sourly.

"I don't like it when you are being a smartass, especially in front of other captains. Someone might think I thought you that." he said coldly.

"Well I did learn it from you." Kaya said innocently, "Did you say smartass?".

"I certainly do not talk like that." Byakuya said "And I could not find a more suitable word."

"If you don't talk like that, why would anyone think it was you who taught me to talk like that." she said, crossing her hands, "And you could say impertinent, or impudent.".

"As you are under my guidance, anything you learn obviously comes from me." he replied "And I wanted a word that would have a strong effect.".

"So according to you, if I learn to fly, it will be because of you?" she said smirking "And you could just say smartaleck, making a strong impression while keeping your mouth clear of such vulgarity.".

This time Byakuya was silent for a minute before answering.

"You couldn't learn how to fly even if you had a thousand years." he frowned, and went over to sit in his chair "And I grow tired of this witless conversation.".

"It happens to you a lot lately, maybe you should see a doctor."

"Sit." he said sharply.

 


	15. Chasing the thunder

… fly, it will be because of you?"

_"Master, I'm in"._

_'What?'_ Byakuya wondered, hearing Senbonzakura's voice.

_"You wanted me to talk with that zanpakto, remember master?"_

_'Of course I remember, it was an hour ago. But how come you are going to talk to him now?'_ Byakuya wondered.

..while keeping your mouth clear of such vulgarity.".

 _"It would seem that your vocal argument is somehow enough to bring your inner worlds together, master, like when you are physically fighting."_ the spirit said wisely.

 _'So now what? Do we need to fight to maintain the connection?'_ he asked the zanpakto.

_"No unless you really want to, master. Just stay near her and keep talking."._

"You couldn't learn how to fly even if you had a thousand years." he frowned, and went over to sit in his chair "And I grow tired of this witless conversation.".

"It happens to you a lot lately, maybe you should see a doctor."

"Sit." he said sharply.

* * *

_Somewhere deep in the shallows of nowhere..._

Senbonzakura was walking, for lack of a better word, along the endless lanes, for lack of a better word, of the immaterial world that was somewhere, yet nowhere near the edge of every shinigami inner world.

We shall use the thoroughly inappropriate words such as 'walking' and 'lane' to describe to the none spiritual being the happening inside this impossible yet perfectly sensible plane of existence. The reader should understand that these descriptions are nothing more then metaphors used to describe the happenings in the event of a zanpakto spirit meeting another in terms that make sense to someone who is not a zanpakto spirit.

It must be made clear that when communicating with their shinigami masters, the spirits of the zanpakto adept the form of their master's material speech and behavior to make conversing with said master possible.

The spirits of the zanpakto do speak, feel and think, however not in the same sense that we do.

He could not see what he was looking for, but he definitely sensed it. Somewhere close by. Watching.

"Show yourself, Hiraishin." Senbonzakura said loudly. His voice echoed in the vast path that starched around him, reverberating off walls that were not there.

"Well if it isn't Sakura. What happened, did your world collapse and now you are looking for a shelter in mine?" said a shrewd voice.

"That's not possible, and even if it was, I would rather fade into oblivion than seek shelter with the likes of you. And don't call me Sakura. Is remembering my name to hard for you?".

"Ouch you hurt my feeling. Your name is just too long to waste my breath on thats all. So why is it that you are talking to me? I must say its refreshing, usually I end up talking to myself whenever we meet." the unseen spirit said, his voice so full of confidence it made you want to kick something.

"I wish to speak with you." Senbonzakura said calmly.

"No you don't. You wish to crush me under your foot like you always do whenever your master and my foolish wielder are fighting. If you can call it a fighting..." there was a hint of resent in his voice when he said the last words.

"That's no way to talk about your master." Senbonzakura said coldly. He didn't like the girl but still he believed that there has to be a mutual respect between a shinigami and his zanpakto.

"My master...?" Hiraishin said quietly, "I don't have a master."

There was a moment silence before Senbonzakura spoke again.

"Otori Kaya is your master." he said quietly.

"No!" Hiraishin shouted, his voice thundering like a storm.

They were silent again. Senbonzakura could almost feel the clouds of a storm that were the manifestation of the zanpakto's rage.

"Have you ever seen a lightning, Sakura?" Hiraishin asked but didn't wait for an answer, "It strikes in a flash. And then its gone, leaving nothing but ruin. Its unpredictable, unstoppable, uncontrollable. You can try to use it but you can never tame it, sooner or later you will get fried. I don't have a master, I am free. And one day, I will grow tired of losing to you thanks to my pathetic wielder's inability. When that day comes, I will fry her along with you and your master.".

The air vibrated, a low inaudible humming shook Senbonzakura's body. He sensed danger. It was only a matter of time before the storm would break out, violent, wild and unrestrained. He stood there, his whole being strained in preparation for an unexpected assault.

"Soooo what did you want to talk about?" Hiraishin said brightly. The humming stopped. The storm have stopped as suddenly as it started.

"I wanted to ask" Senbonzakura said, breathing freely again "why are you so different from other zanpakto?".

"Well I'm one of a kind, the one and only original Flying Thunder God!" Hiraishin declared loudly.

"I meant, where are you channeling your power from and how?" Senbonzakura asked. He only now realized that whenever he felt those powerful and foreign surges they weren't coming from the zanpakto. The zanpakto was not the source of the reiatsu but it was definitely being used as a mean of connection between the girl and the unknown twisted source.

"You think you are so smart Sakura. Even if I did answer that question, you still wont understand." Hiraishin said darkly.

"Understand what?" Senbonzakura snapped angrily.

"Understand what it means to be... nobody. Someone who have everything cant understand what it means to have nothing.".

"No one has everything. You are making no sense and then you get angry that no one understands you. I can tell that you are feeling resentment toward your master. Maybe its because she doesn't understand you. Maybe its because you don't understand her. You need to talk if you want to understand each other. Then you can help and support each other and achieve whatever it is you want to achieve.".

"She won't come. She wouldn't come to see me anymore." Hiraishin said happily.

"Why not?".

"She is scared of me." a whisper came as an answer.

"Don't make me laugh, I've never heard of a shinigami being afraid of his zanpakto. And anyway the girl is so stupid that she is not afraid of anyone." Senbonzakura sneered.

"True, true..." Hiraishin said quietly, "Can you laugh Sakura?".

The zanpakto's mood changed so rapidly that Senbonzakura was having trouble keeping himself calm.

"Of course I can laugh, its a simple matter of using the right muscles." he said, taking deep breaths to relax. If he didn't need to get some answers from the damned zanpakto he would have lost his patience long ago.

"Lets hear." Hiraishin said in an eager childish voice.

"No! Why do you think your master is afraid of you?".

"I don't have a master!" Hiraishin bellowed, still in the childish voice.

"Otori Kaya then! Why is she-" Senbonzakura started but was stopped by another change of mood.

"Just Kaya. You know she hates it when people call her Otori." Hiraishin whispered secretly.

"Why is Kaya afraid of you?" Senbonzakura asked slowly, wishing that he was almost anywhere, doing anything, but here.

"Did I say that?" Hiraishin asked in a surprise.

"Enough!" Senbonzakura said loudly.

"Jee I can hear you, Sakura, you don't have to shout..." Hiraishin said offended.

"I'm tired of your stupid games-".

"Why, because I'm winning?" Hiraishin asked happily.

"And I'm sick of your foolish attitude-".

"Which one?".

"So you are going to settle down and answer my questions or-".

"Or what?" the devious taunt rang loudly in the empty darkness.

Senbonzakura stood fuming, wondering what he should do now. He didn't want to attack the sneaky miscreant. He wasn't even sure he could, seeing that his and Hiraishin's masters were not actually fighting. Usually, he could only meet spirits from other zanpakto when his master was fighting against another shinigami. And assuming that he could initiate an attack, would it affect his master as well? Would it force him to fight the girl?

"Your master probably ordered you not to fight, and as a good puppy you obey, right Sakura?" Hiraishin jeered imperiously.

"Watch your mouth you filthy scum." Senbonzakura said quietly, feeling his temper taking hold of him.

"Ill tell you what! I'm gonna do you a favor Sakura! Since you made such an effort and dragged your royal ass here just to talk to me." Hiraishin said gleefully, "I'm gonna try to kill you!".

Senbonzakura braced himself for an attack, but it didn't come. Yet.

"And how is that a favor?" he asked carefully.

"Well..." Hiraishin said seriously, pretending to think hard, "We have a problem here. My godly senses tells me that there's nothing you would like to do more now then run your blade thru my eyeball. Funnily enough I feel the same way!" he finished happily.

"I'm not sure I'm following your logic." Senbonzakura said sarcastically.

"Well thats because it does not exist... Stay with me pal, its really simple!" Hiraishin said brightly, "We both really want to fight! The problem is, we can't fight, unless your master and my wielder engage in a battle! You cant attack me before your master attacks my wielder. I can't attack you before my wielder attacks your master. Therefore we have a problem since I would like to thank you for this wonderful chat by giving you a chance to fight me, but I can't because it would seem that your master and my wielder are not going to fight anytime soon.".

"And?" Senbonzakura said angrily, wondering if there is a point to all this babbling.

"Luckily I've got a solution!" Hiraishin declared victoriously.

...

"Which is?" Senbonzakura asked after Hiraishin didn't continue.

"Oh, would you like to hear?" Hiraishin asked surprised.

...

"I'm not so sure anymore." Senbonzakura said tiredly.

"You have to hear it, Sakura, its brilliant!" Hiraishin said eagerly.

"Fine! Lets hear."

"I am going to make my wielder attack your master!" Hiraishin said excitedly.

* * *

Kaya sat on the chair that Kyoraku evacuated a minute ago, and looked at her captain. He didn't look very angry, she had seen him angrier, so she felt it was okay to talk.

"What were you and Shunsui talking about?" she asked.

"Nothing of much importance." Byakuya answered.

"Just drinking and telling rude jokes?" she asked, grinning.

He frowned, then made an impatient "hmph".

"I don't drink. Drinking is for common people who prefer to drown their problems in sake instead of facing them and try to find an intelligent way to solve them." he said calmly. "And I certainly don't tell rude jokes." he added under his breath.

"What then?" she said, half laughing, "I find it hard to believe that you would agree to such a time wasting activity, unless there was something really important.".

"He asked when I will be sending you to train with Tadashi." he said and was glad to see the smile vanish from her face.

"What?" she blurted, starring at him with wide eyes, "I thought it was a joke!".

"So did I, but apparently Kyoraku is serious. For a change...".

"I... Don't... Want... to train with  _her_." she said thru gritted teeth.

Byakuya starred at her. Suddenly she looked very angry, much angrier then was reasonable for the situation. Her fists were clenched and her hands were shaking. She bit her lip and stared furiously at the desk. A faint wave of wicked spiritual pressure gashed out of her.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly. He tried to make contact with Senbonzakura but there was no answer. He wondered if the sudden rage that took over the girl was somehow the result of the unusual meeting between their zanpakto. Then he wondered if she was even aware of such meeting at all.

Then suddenly she relaxed. She exhaled slowly and closed her eyes. When she opened them she looked normal again.

"I don't want to train with her." she said again, this time much more calmly.

"I wasn't going to send you anyway." he said and, noticing that he was gripping the hilt of his zanpakto, relaxed his hand.

"Oh really?" she asked curiously, "Why not?".

"Because, it would be infinitely stupid to send you to fight Tadashi as there is a gaping difference in skills between you, and I abhor stupidity." he said casually.

The girl didn't answer at once but frowned at the desk and mouthed something that sounded like "abhawr?", but she didn't ask what it means.

"You don't think... I can beat Soga." she said slowly, looking up at him.

"To be perfectly honest, no." he said coldly, wondering if she would get angry again.

But she didn't. She put a hand on his desk and leaned closer to him, looking more annoyed then angry.

"You know, you should learn how to give someone credit." she said reproachfully.

"What?" he said, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"I'm not going to repeat myself." she said pompously, "I've improved a great deal since we started, yet all you do is keep bitching about how stupid and weak I am!" she stood up and looked at him angrily.

He was going to say something but she continued.

"You didn't like the way I talk, so I changed, I learned from you. So now you say I'm being a smartass? You say I have no talent, yet I've managed to give Renji the slip. You say I'm weak, but every time we fight my speed increase and I manage to hit you more. You think I'm stupid but I learn really fast, and if you wont pay attention, one day you will blink and Ill be wearing that haori.".

Byakuya didn't say anything but looked at her calmly. Their eyes were locked. The hilt of his zanpakto was in his hand again, because when she stood up she took out her weapon and stuck it in the desk, and was now gripping it tightly. She didn't seem to notice it tho. When a minute passed and the girl kept breathing heavily from anger, still apparently unaware of the zanpakto in her hand, he looked down on the short zanpakto. She also looked down. When she laid her eyes on the weapon she immediately wrenched it off the desk, looking stunned.

* * *

"Ah well, didn't work..." Hiraishin said, disappointed.

Senbonzakura sensed faintly what happened in the material world and was unpleasantly surprised to see the impossible threat almost come true.

"How did you do that?" he asked amazed and angry.

"Divine intervention." Hiraishin replied mysteriously, "Wanna try again?".

"No! What are you playing at?".

"Sugoroku, wanna join?" Hiraishin said enthusiastically.

"Arrg stop that!" Senbonzakura said furiously.

"Okay we can play shogi if you don't like sugoroku...".

"I said stop.".

"Oo I know! I know! We can play tag!".

* * *

"Are you going to say something or you just leaving me to dry?" she said impatiently.

"I am waiting to hear a reasonable explanation.".

"Well then Ill leave since I have no aspiration to dissipate an eternity in your company." she said, standing up again.

Byakuya starred at her, shocked. He wasn't amazed at her insolence as much as at the fact that she could recite his words from weeks ago. The exact same words. Words that were far above her less then mediocre vocabulary.

"Annoying isn't it?" she said pointedly, noticing his surprise.

"Not as annoying as discovering that you have an excellent memory and instead of using it to learn kido you use it to imitate me for the sole purpose of antagonizing me." he said coldly.

"Well, its the only way to make you recognize me." she said and shrugged.

"Do you have any other talents that I should know about?" he asked pointedly.

"Hmm..." she hummed, thinking.

"Changing the color of your eyes for example?".

"Errr no..." she said evasively.

"Sit."

"Hmm.." she looked at him slightly worried.

"Now.".

"No.".

"What?".

"I said." in a split second she was on his desk, crouching so that their faces were very close.

She smirked, a hint of red flashed across her eyes.

"Kuchiki Byakuya, you lose.".

A second later, she was gone.

* * *

An hour later, Byakuya couldn't believe that he was  _still_  chasing the foolish brat. It became clear that she knew the way around. No one could maneuver so smoothly across the rooftops and the narrow alleyways in an unknown territory. She dashed almost effortlessly, wriggling away gracefully whenever he got close enough to catch her. He was undoubtedly faster then her, but she kept taking sharp turns and diving thru building's windows which slowed him down greatly. She also preformed outstanding acrobatic tricks to slip from his grasp. Whats more, her zanpakto was released and she used her  _jumping_  ability so proficiently that she managed to disappear from his sight and reappear at great distance.

He was furious. Never in his life did he hate Yoruichi more then he did now. There was no doubt in his mind that it was Yoruichi who gave the brat this silly idea. This pointless chase reminded him of the countless times the cat monster stole his hair tie and made him chase her. The stupid girl didn't take anything from him, he could just stop chasing her and go back to his office and wait for her to get bored, but his pride didn't allow him to let her escape him.

 _"Your damn pride will one day be the undoing of us both, master."_  said a grumpy voice.

 _'Senbonzakura? When did you come back?'_ Byakuya thought, surprised. He was sure that his zanpakto was still engaging with the girl's.

 _"I departed from Hiraishin about an hour ago... When you started chasing the girl..."_ the spirit replied carelessly,  _"What do you mean come back? I never left. How can I?"._

_'I called and you did not answer.'._

_"That's weird..."_ the spirit mused.

 _'Never mind, did you find anything?'_ Byakuya thought impatiently.

_"I've found many things, master. The most obvious I think is that I really hate that loathsome creature."._

_'Anything of importance?'_ Byakuya scolded his zanpakto.

 _"Master if you think its hard to get a sensible answer from the girl, think again. Compared to that annoying zanpakto of her she is about as sensible as any sane person."_ the spirit complained.

 _'So you failed.'_ Byakuya thought.

 _"That's not what I said."_ the spirit said indignantly.

It took Senbonzakura about ten minutes to recount his conversation with the other spirit and explain what his findings were, and when he finished his master was standing still on one of the tallest rooftops of the seiretei, thinking hard.

 _'You do realize that what you said is impossible?'_ he thought, pondering everything the spirit told him.

 _"Master, before you met that girl I thought that a lot of things were impossible. I recently found out that most of them **are**  possible." _the spirit said wisely.

_'Such as?'._

_"Well, I never thought Ill see you getting exited over a female again. I was starting to worry you might become an ascetic."._

_'Senbonzakura.'._

_"Yes master?"._

_'Don't you think you are being a little too bold?'_ a hint of anger flared in Byakuya's mind.

 _"Just as bold as necessary, master."_ Senbonzakura said kindly.

Byakuya didn't have a chance to reply. Something hit him hard in the back of the head. The blow was so powerful that the a wave of pain crossed thru his head, like a burning spear penetrating his skull, leaving him temporarily blinded.

He turned around, blinking to clear his vision, and saw the brat smirking at him, less then two meters away. She held the little knife that was her shikai in her left hand, in a glove that was no longer fingerless.

"Whats the matter? Need to catch your breath?" she mocked, her voice strangely deeper then usual.

Her eyes were no longer green but red.

"Who are you?" he asked quietly, fixing his gray eyes on the red ones which glowed faintly.

"Does it matter? I'm like a lightning, flashes bright then fades away. But where I walk there will always be..." she raised her right hand to the sky, the marking on the glove glowing brightly, "Destruction.".

A loud thunder boomed, shaking the air, making the eardrums vibrate painfully. Byakuya looked up and saw black clouds gathering above them, and as he looked a hole swirled opened in the middle of the storm and a huge, bright bolt of lightning came thru that hole and hit the building on which they were standing, followed by an earsplitting thunder.

* * *

Its been months since he started looking. The 80th rukongai was huge plus he wasn't in his right mind most of the time so it took him so long, but it was now clear to him that what he was looking for was  _not_  here. A while ago he thought he felt something, but the sensation was so faint that he thought he imagined it. He was starting to be delirious lately due to the lack of prey. He had to keep a low profile since the shinigami started investigating his work after so long. But he sensed it again. He was not imagining. But it was still so faint... His head started to pound. He took a sip from his bottle of sake. At least when he was drunk he almost forgot how hungry he was. He knocked on the old and crumbling table to signal the barman to give him another bottle.

When the barman returned with his slightly chipped bottle of sake the door to the little, filthy bar opened.

He knew without looking that two shinigami entered the bar. He knew it from their reiatsu, as well as the fact that it didn't sound like they were bare footed. But worse of all, he smelled them. He could almost taste them.

"P-p-please! I don't want any troubles here." the pitiful looking barman whimpered.

"Relax old man we just want a fucking drink thats all." one of the shinigami said.

"He wasn't talking to you, shinigami." he said, his voice croaked and rough from the sake.

"Huh, you got some problem?" the shinigami said and stepped closer.

He was sitting in a dark corner and couldn't be seen from the entrance. When the shinigami drew close enough to see him they stopped dead.

"Check out those fancy cloths, Homura." said one of them, scanning his garments.

His cloths were indeed rather extravagant for the 80th rukongai, and he was even wearing sandals. But probably the weirdest thing about him was that he was wearing sunglasses in such a dark room.

"It doesn't seem like you are from around here, bro." said the same shinigami.

"Arashi!" said the shinigami named Homura and pointed at the zanpakto that was stuck in the stranger's obi.

Both shinigami drew their zanpakto.

"You will come with us to questioning." said Homura.

"Oh really?" he said and stood up grinning widely.

"Oh no please..." the barman pleaded again and crouched under the counter.

"Don't worry Ill clean after me... There wont be a single drop of blood on the floor after I finish..." he said.

He was almost two meters height, dwarfing the two shinigami in front of him.

"Don't worry Homura, I don't feel any spiritual pressure from him." said Arashi boastfully.

"Yeah, don't worry Homura" he said mockingly as he drew his own zanpakto which was shrieking in excitement, reflecting its master's thrill of joy at the opportunity to sate his dreadful hunger at last, "this will be over before you know it, I'm too hungry to play with you.".

Half an hour later he set out of the bar. He took off his sunglasses after weeks of wearing them, feeling thoroughly satisfied. He didn't have such a glorious feast since... Well since  _then._

"I once had a sparrow, alight upon my shoulder.  
From my plate it fed, growing bolder.  
Now that its gone, my plate is stark.  
When the fog will clear, on a journey I embark..."

He chanted quietly. He knew it wasn't very smart to kill two shinigami, the barman was insignificent, but he couldn't help himself, the incurable craving was tearing his insides to shreds for weeks, sending him over the edge of sanity. And anyway, its about time he looked outside the 80th rukongai. He felt his target in the general direction of the inner rukongai. He will find it. That goal was the thin rope of reason that he used every day to pull himself out of the bottomless pits of madness...

* * *

The first thing Kaya felt was nausea. She rolled to the side and emptied the content of her stomach. Groaning and spitting, she tried to sit up but her body objected. It felt stiff and heavy, like it always felt after recovering from a tough beating or after a very intense exercise. She tried opening her eyes but it only made her head spin. From the sound of rattling leaves and chirping of birds as well as the feel of the grassy ground she knew she was in a forest. Something sticky was covering most of her body and the stench of blood and something burned lingered in her nose. She threw up again, coughing and splattering. She managed to lift herself on her hands and knees, her head felt heavy but it was clearing up now.

She heard something. Someone moving nearby. She tensed and tried to open her eyes, only to close them after the world started spinning again. She set back on her heels, trying to reach for her zanpakto. It wasn't there, so she felt her right hand with her left. Her fingers touched torn and slightly damp thin fabric. Her shikai was released.

"Let me see your eyes." said a cold voice.

She startled, realizing that with both her gloves torn and her knife gone her shikai was useless. She heard a chink of metal, a sword being drawn, and tried to get up but a hand on her shoulder pushed her down on her back. A knee sunk into her belly and another hand grabbed her hair and pinned her to the ground. Then she felt the cold edge of a sword on her throat.

She groaned in pain but didn't dare to move. Both her hands were free but she doubted she could do anything in her condition before the blade would sink into her throat. Cold fear was spreading thru her body, holding her much more efficiently then the heavy weight on her stomach or the hand in her hair.

"Your eyes." the voice said again.

This time Kaya sighed in relief and her body relaxed when she recognized the voice.

Byakuya didn't seem to appreciate the gesture and tightened the grip on her hair.

"Okay okay, jeez.." she croaked faintly.

She tried to open her eyes again, slowly this time. She opened them to a crack and blinked a few times. Her vision was blurry but it wasn't spinning anymore, so she opened her eyes completely.

If she didn't know it was Byakuya she probably wouldn't have recognized him.

Trails of blood covered his face, neck, hands and almost every other part of him. His shihakusho, haori and scarf were ripped and burned and hanged on his body in bloodstained shreds. It took her a second to realize what was wrong with his hair. The white kenseikan was gone, broken pieces of it were stuck in his hair. Disheveled damp hair fell on his face, not entirely unflattering. She couldn't help but blush, feeling rather stupid, as his gray eyes bored into her.

When he didn't seem to find anything suspicions in her eyes, Byakuya removed his sword and released her hair, but he did not get off her.

"Err whats up?" she croaked innocently as she tried to remember where were they and how they got here.

The last thing she remembered clearly was being in his office and getting scold for memorizing his lines instead of the kido incantations. Then she remembered a feeling of great vindictiveness, that had nothing to do with what she felt at the moment, wash over her senses. And then... Well, nothing that made sense. It was like she fell asleep. She remembered she felt a stream of random emotions and feelings banging loudly against her consciousness. Shifting images that made no sense ran in and out of her mind, disappearing before she could focus on one of them. Then a feeling of great euphoria flooded her whole being, drowning all the meaningless pictures, sounds and feelings in an unexplainable cheerfulness. The wonderful bliss was so deep that it made everything else insignificant. That jubilation made anything within reach, and if something was out of reach, it simply didn't exist. When that feeling was gone, it left such a gaping chasm that it was impossible to imagine what was there to fill that abyss. The bottomless empty pit was so vast and terrible, it was hard to believe that, now after it was gone, such a great bliss ever existed in it's stead.

Remembering that feeling, or rather the lose of that feeling, brought tears to Kaya's eyes. The sense of lose was so painful that it hurt more then the knee that was still pressing into her belly.

"What happened?" she sobbed quietly.

Byakuya was probably surprised to see her crying, because his expression softened a little.

"You don't remember?" he asked.

"Remember what?" she asked looking at him, "Did I do that to you?".

Sometimes during their training she ended up injuring him without clearly remembering how she did it. Sometimes she looked around the place they where fighting, to find it wrecked and destroyed without remembering when did it happen. But never something like that. She never managed to inflict so much damage at once. She looked at her hand and noticed that she too was covered in blood and healed burns and cuts.

He got off her and picked her up. He then turned her around and pointed at a thick column of black smoke. She looked and saw that they were in the forest under the Sokyoku hill. The smoke was coming from a gap between two towers of the Senzaikyu.

 _'Thats weird... I'm pretty sure there's suppose to be another building in the middle.'_ she thought as she looked at the wide gap between the towers.

"Oh..." she said as realization hit her, "You mean... I did that?" she said slowly.

He didn't say anything but looked down at her.

"Oh come on! I know I'm strong, but not that strong." she said incredulous, waving a hand at him.

"Exactly." he said.

Now that they were standing she could see clearly how badly injured they both were. Unable to find anything to say, Kaya looked at her left hand. She just now realized that the left glove, which was usually fingerless except for the middle and index fingers, was no longer fingerless. It was ripped and burned in many places, but it was undoubtedly a full glove. She placed her right hand over her left and tried to fix it. The moment her hands touched sparks flew out of the place where her hands made contact. A moment later the short zanpakto and its sheath laid in her hands.

"I think we need to talk." he said.

"Yeah I guess..." she said, not looking at him.

 


	16. Lost and Delirious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used Senbonzakura as seen in the anime filler "zanpakto unknown tales".

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled, sliding open the door of the closet in which she was sleeping.

"What?" Ichigo bellowed jumping from his homework, rubbing his eye.

"Did you feel it?" Rukia asked, starring out of the window.

"No, what was I suppose to feel?" Ichigo asked annoyed and starred at his substitute tag. It was quiet.

"I think... I felt nii-sama's spiritual pressure..." Rukia said quietly.

"Huh? Byakuya?" Ichigo asked surprised.

"How many other brothers do I have? Of course Byakuya!" Rukia said snappishly.

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming? I mean why would Byakuya come to the human world?" Ichigo said scratching his head with a pencil.

"Probably because Renji didn't find Kaya... Nii-sama came to look for her..." Rukia said thoughtfully.

"Emm Rukia? This is Byakuya we are talking about. Somehow I don't see him running to look for his lost subordinates, especially since according to what you told me about this Kaya I'm sure Byakuya would be more then happy to get rid of her." Ichigo said, going back to his homework.

"Ichigo don't talk about nii-sama like that! He takes his duty very seriously, and he wont sit and do nothing while one of his squad members got lost and can possibly be in danger!" Rukia said angrily, kicking Kon, who was trying to crawl into her closet, at Ichigo's face.

"He hates her!" Ichigo bellowed, peeling Kon of his face and throwing him at the wall, "And danger my ass! She is with Yoruichi! They are probably playing 'lets destroy Karakura town and piss off Byakuya on the way' while laughing their heads off!".

They starred at each other for a minute, their faces blank.

"Maybe we should go check things out." Ichigo said.

* * *

Byakuya took the girl back to the flat in which he found Yoruichi earlier. He thought it best to wait until the effect of the drug wears off completely before returning to soul society. He also wanted to keep an eye on her until she sobers up. He didn't want to think what chaos she could conjure when she wakes up, still tipsy from the drug, not to mention the damage she would inflict on herself.

He set her down on the couch and took the empty mug that was on the table. He put it in the sink and noticed a pot of hot chocolate on the stove.  _'Better get rid of it.'_ he thought as he poured the whole content of the pot into the sink as well.

He started pacing along the room, wondering what he should do. He stopped pacing abruptly and sat down on the floor, his sword in his lap. He would meditate until the havoc wrecking girl would wake up. Come to think of it, she might not wake up at all until morning, and she wont even remember that she was being drugged.

" _I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you, master."_ the voice of his zanpakto echoed in his mind.

"I don't remember asking your opinion, Senbonzakura." he replied.

 _"You came to see me..."_ the spirit pointed out.

"I am merely trying to clear my mind." he said coldly, realizing that he was indeed in his inner world.

 _"Your mind is clear as ever, master, which brings the question why are you not leaving the pesky girl in the mess she has foolishly brought upon herself?"_ the masked warrior said politely.

"You suggest I just leave her to wake up and wonder around drunkenly in a place she have never been to before?" Byakuya asked, knowing that the spirit's thoughts were exactly as he said.

 _"Precisely."_ the spirit said, clearly happy that his master was getting the idea so quickly  _"It maybe a good opportunity to rid yourself of that nuisance of a girl."_.

"What is it to you?" Byakuya inquired, surprised at the spirit's clear dislike for the girl.

The masked samurai never before displayed such animosity to anyone, he usually regarded most people as unworthy of his attention, much like his master. Some people he regarded with restrained respect, like Kurosaki Ichigo, whom his master fought against more then once.

From what the spirit told him, Byakuya learned that whenever two shinigami fought, the spirits sleeping in their swords also engaged each other. They weren't exactly fighting, like their shinigami masters, and they weren't exactly talking. They were... "brushing against each other" as Senbonzakura said when he tried to explain to his master the exact nature of this kind of encounter.

 _"I just cant stand that obnoxious spirit of her."_ Senbonzakura hissed angrily.

"What do you mean?" Byakuya asked even more surprised. Usually his spirit described his opponents as "weak", "insignificant", "boring" and rarely "strong" or "interesting". Obnoxious was new.

 _"Its hard to explain."_ the spirit said slowly.

"Do try. I find your unusual interest in the girl quiet disturbing." Byakuya said coldly.

 _"If something should disturb you, master, its **your**  unusual interest in the girl." _the spirit said again in that annoyingly polite tone.

"Nonsense." Byakuya said at once, "She is my disciple so its my duty to observe her growth. That's the only interest I have in her.".

 _"Oh master"_ Senbonzakura said almost pitifully  _"you can lie to her, but you were staring at her-"._

"You are changing the subject." Byakuya interrupted his insolent zanpakto.

 _"I was under the impression that we were discussing your foolish apprentice?"_  the spirit said offended.

"We were discussing her spirit that you seem to highly dislike." Byakuya said angrily.

 _"Well fine."_ Senbonzakura said, annoyed that he couldn't discuss the topic that seemed to be on his master's mind too much lately,  _"He is just unbearable, and I'm not talking about the fact that he is annoying and can't keep his mouth shut."._

"He? The manifestation of her zanpakto is a male?" Byakuya asked amazed.

 _"Well yes... The flying thunder god **,** as he calls himself... does it matter?" _the spirit wondered.

"Not really... it just makes sense that males will have male spirits and females will have female spirits..." Byakuya said slowly.

 _"Making sense is not something this girl seem to excel in... Anyway Hiraishin just feels wrong... Its like he is... Out of place.."_ the spirit trailed off.

"Out of place? You yourself are not making much sense today." Byakuya said frowning.

_"How can I explain it to you... Lets say that you are standing in the human world in a place full of people, and the humans can see you, wearing your shihakusho. They would know immediately that you are different, because you don't look like them, but they wont know why you are different because they have never seen a shinigami, and they cant even sense spiritual pressure."._

"I think I understand what you are trying to say." Byakuya said slowly.

 _"I have never met a spirit like that..."_ Senbonzakura continued,  _"Each spirit looks and feels different, but... this one is different in a different way."._

Byakuya didn't say anything. He thought for a while about the occasional bursts of alien spiritual pressure coming from the girl and wondered if it had anything to do with her "different" spirit.

 _"I am sure there is a connection"_ the spirit said, reading his master's thoughts  _"I am not sure how or why, but there is definitely something wrong with that girl's spirit"._

"Yooo..." a drowsy voice put an end to the shinigami-zanpakto conversation.

Byakuya got up and went to the couch in which his subordinate was sleeping. Her eyes were half open and she looked around dazedly, her head drooping heavily.

She noticed him and stood up shakily on the couch. While standing on the couch their eyes were at the same level.

"Yo... uichi?" she asked in a slow, heavy voice.

"Try again." he said, observing her closely.

She leaned toward him and he had to catch her before she fell off the couch. She squinted at him, their faces only few centimeters apart, and raised her hand. Byakuya's hands were busy preventing her from falling so he couldn't grab her hand, but she only grabbed one of the bangs that fell on his face. She pulled gently.

"Bya...ya?" she said faintly, her voice barely more then a whisper.

"Correct." he said, pushing her off and hoping she would let go of his hair.

Thankfully she did, and was now standing wobbling on the couch supported by his hands, which were on her waist.

She stood there starring, her eyes focusing on his face with difficulty, and her mouth was slightly open.

"Bya...? Were you... always... this handsome?" she said slowly tilting her head to one side.

"Probably." he said, frowning and letting go of her waist, hoping she wont remember anything in the morning.

 _"You just touched her waist master, nothing improper compared to what you've been thru.."_ Senbonzakura said patiently.

 _'Be quiet you damn ghost.'_ Byakuya thought angrily.

"Lets... Play tag!" the girl said tiredly.

"No." he said instantly trying to ignore the spirit of his zanpakto that was now listing a number of things a man can do to a drugged girl.

"You... Are... It!" she said and pushed him weakly. She then jumped off the couch, crashed spectacularly on the floor, got up, wobbled drunkenly for a second and fell on her back.

Byakuya sat on the now empty couch and massaged his temples.

"Byaaaa.." the girl cried from the floor, "Your... S'pose to... Chase meee...".

"We are not going to play tag." he said and looked up.

He was surprised to see her crouching on the table, leaning close to him. Her eyes were wide open now, but still unfocused.

"Pssst." she whispered, putting a hand near her mouth "Wanna hear a secret?".

"No." he said and leaned back to get away from her.

"I'm actually a spirit from soul society!" she whispered loudly and leaned closer to him, putting a hand on his knee for support "And I can walk thru walls!".

"Really?" he said, leaning back so far that he was almost swallowed by the couch.

"Yeah Ill show you!" she said excitedly.

She jumped off him. Stood on the edge of the table and bended her knees, putting her hands in front of her as tho she was going to jump head first into a pool.

"No, don't!" he said, but too late.

There was a dull thud when her head hit the wall.

"Ouch.." she mumbled from the floor.

"Maybe this wall is made of cats... Cuz I cant go thru cats..." she mumbled when he peeled her off the floor.

"Yes of course." he said as he laid her on the couch and sat near her to examine her head. There was a small bump where she hit the wall. He parted her hair to see if there is anything more life threatening than that when her hands caught one of his.

"Bya... that tickles..." she said, sounding tired again.

She brought his hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles. Startled, he tried to pull his hand away, but she held it tightly. She pulled herself up until her head and torso were in his lap.

"Don't you have... a dream?" she said faintly, her eyes closing, "Where are your...wings...?". And she fell asleep.

Byakuya felt his face grow hot for the who knows what time tonight. He didn't want to stay in this awkward position all night, but he also didn't want to wake her up.

* * *

"Are you seeing what I see?" Rukia asked, amazed.

"Well only if you see Byakuya sleeping with a little girl in his lap." Ichigo said, also shocked.

It was past midnight when they finally found Byakuya. But they were not prepared to the sight in front of them.

They expected to find the two, maybe Yoruichi as well, engaged in a fight, or maybe the aftermath of such fight.

Rukia did not expect to look thru a window and see her brother sitting on a couch, seemingly asleep, and Kaya coddling on his knees.

"Eh... is that Kaya?" Ichigo asked after a long and embarrassed silence.

"Well... yes..." Rukia said slowly, still having difficulty believing what she saw.

"She looks pretty young... Altho you can never tell with you people from soul society" Ichigo mused.

"I think... Actually I'm pretty sure she is not much older then you..." Rukia said thoughtfully.

"Wow that would practically make her a baby compared to Byakuya... Lets see... If you are around 100 years old, and Byakuya is your older brother, that would probably make him around 200... If Kaya is 15 then it means..." Ichigo muttered, making calculations in his head.

"What on earth are you on about?" Rukia wondered.

"Well then there's nothing for us to do here unless you want to call the social services..." Ichigo said abruptly.

"Social services?" Rukia asked frowning at Ichigo.

"Yeah to report about a statutory rape." he said and jumped off the balcony to the street below.

"Ichigo you idiot!" Rukia said landing beside Ichigo and kicking him "How dare you suggest that my brother would do such a-".

"Stop it damnit! It was a joke! Just a goddamned joke!" Ichigo yelled and tried to protect himself from the barrage of kicks Rukia was raining on him.

* * *

It was a very long night for Byakuya. Long and highly embaressing. The girl woke up a few times and wondered around the room drunkenly.

She complained that it was too hot and almost took off her cloths and tried to take a bath in the sink before Byakuya stopped her.

She said something about a lollipop and turned over the whole room looking for it. She declared she was going to the well to sell some flying mice before smashing into the door and falling asleep again.

She woke up later and pulled him to the floor, tagging on his hakama, demanding to know if he really thinks she looks like a cat. When he pushed her off after assuring her that he did not think she looked like a cat, she lay on her back with her hands to the sides and said shyly "Okay but be gentle...". He pushed himself quickly of the floor, much to the amusement of his zanpakto, and pulled his hakama back up.

He didn't know when he fell asleep, but he woke up when he felt a small tag on his garments. He opened his eyes and saw a faint glow illuminating the dark sky which meant that the sun was about to rise. He looked down at the small hand that was pulling his cloths, and noticed that its owner was up. Her eyes were partly open and she gazed groggily at him. She looked very tired and exhausted. She screw her face as tho trying to remember something. She didn't seem to register the position they were in. He was lying on his back along the couch and she, on top of him, her legs wrapped tightly around one of his. He couldn't quiet remember how they got into this awkward position and wasn't sure he wanted to. Just when he thought she might go back to sleep she spoke.

"It wasn't a dream, was it?" she mumbled faintly.

"It depends on what you mean?" he said carefully, not sure if the drug's effects wore off or not.

"A lollipop, mice," she said, thinking hard, "an unpleasant meeting with the floor and the wall... Something about cats... and... and..." her face went red.

She looked down at him, finally realizing where she was and who she was talking to, released his leg and fell off the couch.

Byakuya got up, rolling his eyes, and stretched.

"Get up, if we leave now we might get some hours of sleep before the day starts." he said, not looking at her. He was quiet surprised that she remembered that much.

"W-wait!" she spluttered, getting up, "What happened? I mean, did I do something... errrr" she struggled to find a fitting word.

"Inappropriate?" he offered.

"Yes that it! Inappropriate!".

"Assuming you do not see running away from Renji and causing mayhem with Yoruichi as inappropriate?"

"Hmm yeah." she said smiling apologetically. She didn't really think she could get away unpunished after all the fun she had yesterday.

"No".

"Huh? What do you mean no?" she asked.

"You seem to remember quite a lot of what happened so I see no reason to summarize it for you." he said quietly.

She noticed that he didn't look at her all this time, and looking down on herself she realized why. Her kimono was half open. Not revealing anything except a protruding collarbone, but still improperly tucked.

"Why are you looking away like that?" she asked, stuffing the kimono back into her obi, "You've already seen me naked. Twice!".

"I have no desire to make it thrice..." he said dully.

"Why? Are you gay?" she said, looking at him with amazement.

"What?" he looked at her, astounded that she actually said what she did.

"You know, gay? As in a guy who likes to fuck other guys?" She said, surprised that he didn't know what gay mean.

"I know what a gay is. I was merely wondering how you arrived at such faulty conclusion about me." he said irritably.

"I didn't make it up." Kaya shrugged, "Almost half the times I'm in the toilet there are girls talking about you. I heard more then one of your fans complaining that you are probably gay, which is why you don't have a girlfriend..."

"My... Fans?" Byakuya muttered, massaging his temple.

"Yeah!" She grinned, "Rowdy lot, I think even you will get a hard on when you'll hear their fantasies about you." then her face fell, "Grownups are so disgusting.".

"I assure you that I do not find men attracting, so you can get this ridiculous thought out of your head. As for not wanting to see you naked again, the abysmal state your body is in is... Disturbing.".

"Say what? My body is in top shape!" She said and flexed her arm.

"No, you are too skinny." He sighed.

"Well thanks, you are not bad looking either." she replied brightly.

"I am serious. I don't know what you are eating, if indeed you are eating, but you need to have a balanced diet if you want to function properly." he said, pushing away the concern that sneaked into his mind "Or at least keep your bones inside your body.".

She looked at him for a minute, a weird surprised look on her face.

"Wow Byakuya... I... I Didn't know you cared..." she said sheepishly, smiling half a smile.

"I don't!" he said immediately, before she could get the wrong idea "As I said, your performance would improve if you eat properly.".

"You know..." she said suddenly in a business like tone "You can be real charming when you want to.".

"I have not the slightest idea what you mean by that." he said, cursing his ears for turning red.

"You came searching for me when I didn't return, you looked after me all night while I was delirious and you didn't try to take advantage of me even once." she grinned "And you seem to be very concerned about my well being...".

"Don't ever make me waste my time looking for you again and know your place, brat." he said coldly.

"Jee you don't have to be so gay..." she mumbled grumpily.

Before he could stop himself he grabbed the girl by the collar of her shihakusho and pulled her close to him, slightly lifting her so that she was forced to look at him.

"I. Am. Not. Gay." He hissed menacingly, gaining huge satisfaction when she flinched as their bodies collided.

"Nope, I don't think you are." She said, wincing, "Unless thats your zanpakto under your pants.".

He let go of her immediately. He didn't even noticed that his nether region was uncomfortably stiff. What the hell was wrong with him?

"Oh come on, you just spent the night with a girl wrapped around your leg, only a gay wouldn't get a boner..." the girl said, looking very amused.

He couldn't help but get annoyed at the casualness she was handling that embarrassing situation.

"You do not seem to be disturbed by the night events..." he said nonchalantly, completely opposite to the nervousness he felt inside. If anyone ever finds out what happened tonight... The foul rumors that would fly...

She looked away, scratching her ear, a weird expression on her face. I was a mixture of sadness, regret and a sort of submissive consent.

"I've already seen a dick." she said indifferently, shrugging.

For the first time, Byakuya felt sorry for the girl. But why was he surprised? There is no way a small, underfed girl could survive in the 80th rukongai long enough to learn how to use a sword. She probably had a patron of some sort, a strong ruffian, that protected her from the other scoundrels. In return for a payment of course.

His compassion probably leaked to his face because when she looked back at him she startled.

"Hey don't look at me like that!" She exclaimed loudly, a look of revulsion twisting her face "I said I've seen a dick, not that I was a whore! Did you think I... Oh my god! Grownups are so disgusting!".

"You said you have seen a man's penis, and you talk about intercourse in such a casual way, so I thought-" he started, not sure how to finish, and was glad when she interrupted him.

"No, stop, I don't wanna hear what you thought!" She bellowed angrily, "Get yourself a girlfriend and go get laid. I'm sure it won't be difficult for you so just stay away from me you filthy hypocrite!".

"What?" He blurted, his eyes widening in shock. How dare she talk to him like that?

"Look, it was very noble of you not to have your way with me tonight, but it won't work between us. I understand that, even if you deny it, you are a man, and you have needs, and you get uncomfortable with a girl hanging around you all day, and you are probably sick of masturbating, but we are not meant for each other. Don't get me wrong, I think you look very attractive but you are not my type. I'm pretty sure that I'm also not your type. You are a noble and I'm a nobody. I talk a lot, you don't talk at all. You are too old for me, no offense. Plus you hate me from the core of your soul." She said very quickly, stopping to breath only when she finished talking.

Byakuya tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow, starring at the girl in disbelief. Could she still be under the effect of the drug? No way... It only last for couple of hours...

"You... Got it all wrong." he said blankly, fully aware of the idiocy of such words.

"Which part?" She asked, screwing her face at him.

"Do you really think that I am attracted to you?" He said, blinking at her.

"Well, you are a guy. I'm a girl. I don't know if attracted is the right word... But you see" she said wisely "there are hormones in the body that make people need sex, and I'm pretty sure I'm correct in saying that you didn't get off in a very long time, so you have an accumulation of unfulfilled desire. Seeing as you don't hang around females too much it didn't bother you until now, but now that I'm here-"

"Alright thats enough!" he said sharply "I am being lectured about carnal knowledge by a silly brat who didn't even have her puberty yet...".

 _"And you seem to be enjoying yourself..."_ Senbonzakura pointed out.

"Say what?" she blurted and was about to keep talking when he poked her painfully between the eyes.

"I said thats enough. You are giving me a headache." he said glumly.

Her shoulders drooped and she made a sour face as she rubbed her brow.

"Wheres my zanpakto?" she said after finally noticing that it was not with her.

Byakuya mentioned his head toward the counter near the sink on which he placed both their zanpakto earlier.

She went over to the counter and looked down at the two swords. She didn't immediately picked her own but kept looking at the two weapons. She tilted her head to one side and made a little "hmm" of thinking. She then raised her hand and tried to pick up Senbonzakura.

Before her fingers touched the white scabbard a hand closed around her wrist. She looked up and saw Byakuya looking down at her, frowning angrily.

"I have no intention to take it, I just want to compare it with Hiraishin." she said indignantly.

Her politeness stung his ears. He let go of her wrist, picked his zanpakto and unsheathed it, holding it in front of him.

"Compare then.".

She took her own zanpakto and unsheathed it as well, holding it next to his.

"Your zanpakto is too long." she said after looking up and down the sword in his hand.

"Don't be a fool, its normal length. Yours is too short." he said.

The girl frowned. It seem she just now realized that her zanpakto was less then half the length of his.

"Can you converse with your zanpakto?" Byakuya asked suddenly, remembering his earlier conversation with Senbonzakura.

"What?" she asked distractedly, still studying the two zanpakto.

"Can you talk to the spirit of your zanpakto?" he asked clearly, "Can you talk to Hiraishin?".

"Ah yeah sure." she said evasively and sheathed her weapon.

"You can't." he said, slightly disappointed.

"Yes I can!" she said angrily, "I just don't want to thats all!".

"You don't want to?" he repeated, frowning.

The girl looked away sourly, and scratched her ear.

"He's annoying. I don't like talking to him.".

This surprised him. Senbonzakura not liking the girl's zanpakto is one thing, but the girl to not like her own zanpakto is something completely different. The fact that both his zanpakto and the girl described him as "annoying" was also very suspicious.

Byakuya let go of the subject because he felt that soon he will be too tired to have a sensible conversation, especially since his partner wasn't making much sense herself.

He opened the Senkaimon and, grabbing the girl around the waist and hoisting her over his shoulder, stepped thru the open gate into the dark Dangai.

Once inside he begun running along the dark, seemingly endless tunnel.

"Oi!" the girl shouted angrily "Why aren't we using those butterfly thingies?".

"Because I don't have any Jigokucho with me." Byakuya answered.

"Yes I can see that! I was merely wondering why you didn't feel the necessity to bring some with you!" she yelled sarcastically.

"It seem you have a lot of energy, would you like to run on your own?" he asked.

"Ah maybe next time." she said and fell silent.

She knew perfectly well that right now he was running faster then she ever did in her life. She heard stories in the academy about young shinigami who lost their hell butterfly in the Dangai and were never seen again. She was sure half of them were bullshit, cooked up by the teachers, to scare young students into obedience. But now when she was actually in the Dangai she had no doubt that someone could get stuck in it forever.

The truth was that Byakuya didn't take any Jigokuchi with him was that he didn't want any more people to know that his foolish subordinate got lost in the human world, and more importantly that he himself, captain in the Gotei 13, had to go to bring her back.

* * *

_He pushed her down easily with one hand, his ravenous red eyes wide with excitement. With a swift motion he removed the filthy rags that were her cloths and a moment later his top half clothing joined hers on the floor._

_She tried to resist, but her limbs were frozen in fear. She felt her heart sink to her belly, which grew uncomfortably worm._

_His hand twitched as they moved over her naked form, to her neck, which he could encircle entirely with only one of his hands. She could feel his fingers strained as they closed on her neck, obviously fighting the urge to crash her throat as it was so adept at. As gently as could someone like him, he tilted her head back, baring her neck to him._

_They were both sweating. She from fear, him from wild excitement, as well as sheer effort to contain his murderous thrill. He was so much bigger then her, and probably more then twice her weight, that pinning her down was no effort for him at all. Of course, his close proximity and the heavy reiatsu he radiated were more then enough to stop her from running..._

_As she swallowed she felt his fingers tighten momentarily and he let out a sharp gasp. His hand moved to her hair, closing painfully on her filthy, matted brown strands._

_He lowered his face to her neck, panting hungrily against her skin. For a moment he just hovered there, his teeth bared, slightly touching the side of her throat, breathing heavily in an attempt to fight his brutal instincts..._

"No!" Kaya cried as she was snapped out of her dream.

She was sitting upright, her hand massaging the side of her neck.

 _'Morning already?'_ she wondered as she looked at the window to see the sun shining brightly.

She laid back starring up at the ceiling, taking long deep breaths.

 _'He can't find me here. He will never be able to get into the seireitei without being noticed...'_ she reassured herself.

"Why do I keep having these fucking dreams..." she muttered.

* * *

"Morning Renji!" she said brightly and continued on her way.

"Don't "morning" me you punk! I'm gonna kill you! You know how much troubles you put me into?" Renji barked at her.

"Troubles?" she wondered, turning to face the seething Renji "Did Byakuya scold you?".

"Wha?" Renji staggered at her concern "No he didn't.".

"Did he punish you?" she asked, still with that worried look.

"No."

"Hit you?"

"No."

"Yelled at you?"

"No..."

"Kicked you out of his office?"

"No!"

"Insulted you?"

"No goddammit!"

"Suggested you go kill yourself?"

"NO of course not!" Renji yelled now red faced.

"Then congratulation Renji, you are not in trouble!" Kaya said smiling cheerfully "In fact I think Byakuya is rather fond of you. In a professional way of course, 'cause I know for a fact that he is  _not_  gay.".

"What the? You idiot, stop with the- with that nonsense!" Renji bellowed.

"I think the term you meant is "bullshit", Renji. You should be true to yourself." she said calmly.

"Enough with the smooth talking you moron! And you can't go to the captain's office, he is in an important meeting.".

"A meeting?" Kaya asked, sounding thoroughly bewildered.

"Yes a meeting! What, do you think the world turns around you? Captain has other things he need to do beside babysitting you." Renji said scornfully.

"Yeah what ever. Don't you have things you need to be doing? Instead of shouting at me?".

"Of course I do-" Renji stammered, confused that she gave up the argument so quickly.

"Then be on your way, young Renji, and may the force be with you." Kaya said and bowed mockingly.

She left Renji, who was standing with his mouth open, and continued her way to the 6th squad.

Yesterday Yoruichi showed her screen that humans use to watch "movies" using a flat discs that were fed into the machine. The movie was called "star wars" or something like that and was about a shinigami like human with glowing swords that drew power from what they called "the force". Kaya enjoyed the movie and was amazed to see some humans who looked like the weirdos from squad 12. There was even a princes that looked disturbingly like Kurotsuchi Mayuri.

Arriving at the corridor that led to Byakuya's office, Kaya noticed that there was someone standing outside the office. Getting closer, Kaya was repulsed to recognize the person as Tadashi Soga.

The pink haired Soga stood with her back against the wall and leaning slightly forward on her zanpakto, which she held in front of her. The zanpakto was touching the ground but was still long enough that it reached almost to Soga's chin.

 _'That sword is almost as tall as I am.'_ Kaya thought resentfully.

"Oh what are you doing here?" Soga asked, smiling maliciously "The trash disposal unit is at squad 4."

The Kaya from few weeks ago, before she joined squad 6, would have lashed out, cursing and spitting, and drawing her sword. But after hanging around Kuchiki Byakuya for a while, Kaya learned that a well chosen refined words could hurt worse then the most foul word and the sharpest sword. So she smiled too, resisting the urge to yell and draw her zanpakto.

"Yes I know, they were looking for their pink duster so I told them I think I saw it leaning against the wall near Byakuya's office and Ill go and make sure." Kaya said kindly.

Soga's face twisted in rage, "What did you say, you lowly rukon filth?".

"Oh I'm sorry did I stater?" Kaya said, still smiling "Or maybe you didn't hear me? If thats the case I suggest you take your head out of your ass. That way you won't only hear better, but you will also notice that this is my squad. So actually the question that needs to be asked is what are  _you_  doing here?".

Soga looked at Kaya furiously, her eyes wide, gripping her zanpakto very tightly.

"One day you will pay for all your insults, you little beast. And when that day comes-" Soga whispered thru clenched teeth, but stopped when Kaya walked by her to the office's door.

"Be sure to give me a head on, I wouldn't want to miss a training with my captain.".

She opened the door before Soga could string another word.

Inside she saw Soga's captain, Kyoraku Shunsui, sitting across from her own captain. The pink covered captain was sitting slightly lopsided, a small glass of what was undoubtedly sake in his hand. He stopped talking just when Kaya entered the office. Byakuya was sitting stiffly in his chair, looking supremely annoyed, and a bottle of sake stood in the middle of his desk. When he saw Kaya opening the door he looked almost happy to see her. Almost.

"Kaya chan!" Kyoraku bellowed happily.

"You can't go in!" Soga came after Kaya and grabbed her by the apper arm.

"If you don't remove your hand I will have to spray your guts across the wall, and I'm afraid my captain wont be happy If you make such a mess in his office." Kaya said forcing herself to keep smiling.

"I'd love to see you try." Soga hissed coldly, tightening her grip.

"Now now girls its too early in the morning to be shooting sparks at each other!" Kyoraku said merrily and got up "Close the door won't you, Soga chan?".

Soga let go of Kaya and closed the door.

"An important meeting eh?" Kaya said, eying the bottle of sake.

"Captain Kyoraku, captain Kuchiki, I'm so sorry for the interruption but I did try to stop her and-" Soga started.

"That's alright Soga chan, me and Byakuya were just talking about you as a matter of fact." Kyoraku said and placed an over-friendly hand around Soga's shoulders.

"Hmm me, captain?" Soga said, looking shyly at Byakuya and blushing.

Kaya made a small noise of disgust, but no one heard her. One look on Byakuya's face told her that the noise she made reflected perfectly what he felt.

"You and Kaya chan!" Kyoraku said happily, "I've been thinking you two should get together and spend some quality time! You know do some girls stuff! Have fun!".

There was a stunned silence in the room. Kyoraku coughed.

"Ahm after you train a bit of course." he said, imitating a serious voice.

"Wh-what?" Soga broke the silent, almost shrieking "Captain why do I have to train with-with  _her_?".

"Yeah captain sake, if you want to get rid of your student just do it yourself." Kaya said resentfully, feeling the fake smile peeling off her face.

"How dare you talk to my captain like that!" Soga hissed, gripping the handle of her sword.

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all."Kaya said dramatically.

"That's enough." Byakuya opened his mouth for the first time. He got up and picked the bottle of sake off his desk.

"Thank you Kyoraku, I will think about that offer. I think its best you leave now before your lieutenant comes and ridiculously accuse you of drinking while on duty." Byakuya said and handed the bottle to Kyoraku.

"Right you are Kuchiki." Kyoraku said tipsily and turned to his protege "Lets go Soga chan, we might get some free time before Nanao chan finds us.".

Byakuya closed the door after them and turned to look at Kaya.

"Sometimes it is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." he said.

"You welcome, for saving you from that drunken old geezer." she said sourly.

"I don't like it when you are being a smartass, especially in front of other captains. Someone might think I thought you that." he said coldly.

"Well I did learn it from you." Kaya said innocently, "Did you say smartass?".

"I certainly do not talk like that." Byakuya said "And I could not find a more suitable word."

"If you don't talk like that, why would anyone think it was you who taught me to talk like that." she said, crossing her hands, "And you could say impertinent, or impudent.".

"As you are under my guidance, anything you learn obviously comes from me." he replied "And I wanted a word that would have a strong effect.".

"So according to you, if I learn to fly, it will be because of you?" she said smirking "And you could just say smartaleck, making a strong impression while keeping your mouth clear of such vulgarity.".

This time Byakuya was silent for a minute before answering.

"You couldn't learn how to fly even if you had a thousand years." he frowned, and went over to sit in his chair "And I grow tired of this witless conversation.".

"It happens to you a lot lately, maybe you should see a doctor."

"Sit." he said sharply.

 


	17. Predator's Instincts

"Great... Just great..." Kaya mumbled as she laid on her futon and starred up at the ceiling.

"Two shinigami dead... Byakuya asking questions... My damn zanpakto is being a complete bitch... Having secret meetings with Senbonzakura... And I'm talking to myself..." She muttered, placing both hands behind her head.

"Well at least you are not hungry..." she sighed as she rubbed her stomach which was full to the point of bursting for the first time as far as she could remember...

_There was someone under her tree... The tree that was her shelter, her escape... She went to sleep between its branches and when she woke up, she saw someone sitting where she was sitting sometimes..._

_She looked down from between the branches, examining the trespasser. It seem that the he didn't notice her yet..._

_"Its okay, you can come down.." said a gentle voice._

_Kaya startled and almost lost her grip on the branch. It was a woman. And she knew Kaya was there... Should she try to escape?_

_There was something in the voice that made Kaya feel very awkward. It was such a soft and lenient voice... So different then the shouting and growling she was used to in the rukongai._

_The woman got up and walked a few meters away from the tree, sitting again, looking straight at Kaya._

_Kaya didn't move, she recognized the woman's garments as the uniform worn by shinigami..._

_Shinigami were scum... Vile bullies..._

_A smell drifted slowly into her nose. A smell so delicious it made her mouth watery. She looked down and saw that where the woman was sitting... Was now laying a big, round, steaming dumpling._

_She swallowed, starring at the dumpling with ravenous eyes. She licked her lips absentmindedly, glancing at the shinigami, who didn't move._

_Her stomach rumbled as she sniffed hungrily, trying to taste the dumpling from afar._

" _Its a trap..." the voice of her soul companion rang in her head._

_'But... She could have just killed me or kidnap me while I was asleep...' She thought._

_"Shinigami are devious bastards..." he warned again._

_'How would you know...' she replied irritably._

_Without waiting for the spirit to reply she let go of the branch and landed softly on the ground. She Grabbed the dumpling and swiftly climbed up the tree._

_She looked back at the shinigami, her heart beating painfully fast. She didn't move an inch... And she was now smiling at Kaya._

_Without taking her eyes off the shinigami Kaya stuffed the dumpling into her mouth. Tears welled in her eyes as she swallowed the delightfully soft dough and the heavenly tasty meat. Before she noticed, her mouth was empty, except for a large amount of saliva, ready for the next dish._

_Her stomach roared in protest, like a baby monster, demanding more food..._

_Half an hour later, Kaya was sitting, or to be more precise, crouching on the tips of her feet ready to flee at the slightest sign of danger, about a meter away from the smiling shinigami._

_The shinigami was holding out her hand, another dumpling in her open palm. Until now, she would just place the dumplings on the ground and Kaya would pick them up and retreat quickly._

_"I'm not going to bite you." the shinigami said, making Kaya jump and climb up the tree again._

_When she got to the top of the tree, it wasn't a tree anymore. She looked around the dark room, looking for him. She could sense him. She could hear his eager gasps._

_A strong hand closed on her neck as another pulled her tattered cloths off her skinny body._

_As her heart beat rapidly in her throat, fear was spreading in her body, melting her insides and freezing her skin._

_Sharp fangs dug into her shoulder, tearing her skin..._

"No!" She bolted upright, clutching her shoulder.

Kaya starred at the wall of her dingy room trying to catch her breath, her shivering body covered in cold sweat. She yanked her hand off her shoulder, cursing quietly.

"Just a stupid dream..." she muttered, running a hand in her hair, "Just a stupid, fucking dream...".

She laid back, taking slow deep breaths, forcing her pulse to slow down.

"Why!" She exclaimed in frustration "Why do I keep having those stupid dreams?".

* * *

"Heads up slowpoke!".

Just before her foot touched the blue umbrella it closed and a blade almost chopped her leg off. She managed to swirl in midair to dodge the blade at the cost of crashing face down to the ground.

Next morning Kaya spotted Shoji on her way to the 6th squad. To be more accurate she spotted Shoji's umbrella. So she jumped on him, trying to knock him down. She did it at least 3 times a week. On the first times she got him. But then he learned to expect her attack. Usually without his umbrella Shoji would be practically blind in broad daylight, but Kaya gave him goggleses with dark lenses so he could use them during fights without the fear that they would slip off. From what Kaya could tell Shoji was very happy with his present (his face didn't really know what to do) because since then he wore them all the time, sometimes adjusting them unnecessarily and smiling sheepishly to himself.

"Good morning." he said returning his blade to the umbrella.

"Morning.." Kaya mumbled, peeling herself off the ground.

"You know maybe if you didn't shout before you attack it would work better..." Shoji said offering his hand to help her stand up.

"Yeah yeah... I just think its fair to give you a little advantage thats all..." she said grumpily.

"You still think you are stronger then me?" he asked in his dull tone.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure." She said in a swagger and they started walking.

"Then how come I won every fight we had until now?" he asked.

"Because..." she said thinking hard, "Well because I don't want to hurt you..." she elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"Oh I see..." Shoji said with dull sarcasm, rubbing his side.

"Oh please, why are you taking that from her?" said an arrogant voice.

Leaning against a wall was Hajime Junichi. He starred at them with a thin smile, his hands crossed in his lap.

"Hajime san?" Shoji said starring at Junichi.

"If you had spent less time with your head in the clouds you might have been a little stronger, Akamaru." Junichi said sharply.

Shoji shrugged and didn't say anything.

"And letting that..." Junichi eyed Kaya with a look of disdain, "Kid push you around. You are pathetic. Do you think this is a game?".

Shoji still didn't say anything, but Kaya stepped forward.

"Hey what the smoking fart is your problem?" She said aggressively.

"Do you know who we are?" Junichi asked sneering.

"What?" Kaya starred at him.

"We are the future captains of the Gotei 13. Do you know what that means? It means we are strong. Very strong. So strong you can't even begin to imagine how strong we are. Do you think that every shinigami who trains long enough will be a captain one day? No, of course not. We are spending our time training and honing our skills so that we might reach the level of ultimate power. The level of a captain. Or at least we are supposed to." He said and gave Shoji a disgusted look.

"Is there a point to all this stupidity?" Kaya snarled and took another step toward Junichi.

"The point is that you are wasting your time, playing "I wanna be a captain" and you" he looked at Shoji "need to wake up, or you will be left behind with the rest of the trash." he nodded at Kaya.

"You fucking-" Kaya growled and pulled her right fist back, intending to punch Junichi with all her might but someone stopped her.

She looked and saw Shoji holding her hand, preventing her from punching Junichi.

"I'm sorry Hajime san, but I already told you, I'm looking for my own path." Shoji said quietly.

"We are all walking the same path." Junichi said.

Shoji shook his head. "We have the same goal, but the paths we take are different.".

"Well it seems to me like you took a wrong turn on your path since it led you to fooling around with a weak amateur." Junichi sneered with another glance at Kaya.

"You know... One of the best things about being ambidextrous..." she said before any of them could say anything else.

A moment later Kaya's left fist hit Junichi's face with such force that it sent him flying backward.

"Is that I can punch just as hard with my left hand." She said smugly and wrenched her right hand from Shoji's grip.

All around people started to back away from them, some of them pointing at Kaya and mumbling something that sounded like "trouble maker". Even Shoji starred at Kaya with amazement.

"What?" Kaya asked giving Shoji a what-did-I-do look, "He's right about one thing, you have to stop taking shit from people Shoji.".

Junichi got to his feet holding a hand to his bleeding nose. He glared at Kaya with such ferocity that his normally handsome face turned into the face of a snarling beast.

"Whats wrong? If you plan on being a captain you can't get yourself knocked out by a punch from a trash like me, now can you?" Kaya said arrogantly and grinned.

For a moment Junichi didn't move, but it seemed like he was muttering something.

"Sorry can't hear you." Kaya said crossing her arms.

"Watch out!" Shoji said suddenly and pushed her out of the way.

He did it just in time. A moment later Junichi raised an outstretched arm with the palm facing flat toward where Kaya and Shoji stood, gripping it with his other hand and yelling "Hado 88 Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho!".

A gigantic beam of electric spiritual energy shot from his hand, missing Kaya and Shoji by an inch. It hit a nearby wall and caused an enormous explosion, reducing the wall to a pile of rabble and sending chunks of rock flying around.

"What do you think you are doing Hajime san?" Shoji called at Junichi after he and Kaya scrambled to their feet.

"Stay out of this Akamaru. This kid thinks she is such a big shot, lets see how she manage." Junichi said grinning viciously.

"Yeah stay out of this Shoji." Kaya said as she walked by him toward Junichi.

She looked at the ruins left by the explosion, and turned back to Junichi, raising her eyebrows.

"And they say I'm a walking disaster." she smirked and drew her zanpakto, "It seems that under that pretty face hides a vicious monster.".

"You can't judge a book by its cover." Junichi said and raised two fingers, "Hado 6 Kaze o Saku.".

A flat rotating disc of reiatsu formed at the tips of Junichi's fingers. With a swift movement he threw the disc at Kaya.

"Jump between, Hiraishin!" Kaya yelled, grabbing the scabbard as well.

Nothing happened. A split second later she flattened herself to the ground to avoid the flying reiatsu disc. It swished menacingly above her, cutting the air and zooming away.

She starred at the zanpakto in her hand, unable to understand why it didn't work. It never happened before.

She didn't have time to sit, another disc zoomed toward her. She leaped to the side, and quickly dodged yet another disc of rotating reiatsu. She had to jump and swirl to dodge the barrage of discs Junichi was sending at her. She jumped to the top of one of the walls and tried using her shikai again.

"Jump between, Hiraishin!" she called but again nothing happened, whats more she couldn't feel anything from her zanpakto. She could just as well be holding a normal wakizashi.

"Son of a bitch." she cursed angrily and pushed the sheath back to her obi.

_'I need to get close to him somehow.'_ she thought as she dodged another disc.

She jumped above a disc of reiatsu and tried to run toward Junichi, but he only grinned and created another disc with his other hand. He was now shooting the discs in pairs, making it impossible for her to get close.

She just side stepped to avoid one of the disks when he raised his hand and said "Bakudo 4 Hainawa!".

She was in middle of dodging another disc and couldn't escape in time as a rope of crackling yellow energy caught her around the waist and wrapped around her arms.

"Oh look, you might be able to hit me now." she said, struggling against her bonds.

"Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six!" Junichi chanted as he slowly walked toward her, "Bakudo 61 Rikujokoro!".

As he pointed with his index finger at her, six flat wide beams of light closed against her middle stopping her every movement. The strength of the combined restraining spells overwhelmed her, it felt like she was being crushed by tones of water. It felt so different then the kido Byakuya used on her, probably because he never used the incantations, because he never used more then one at a time, or because she never made him so angry.

"You need to say the incantation to work out your kido? That's pretty lame won't you say?" She said grinning at him despite her terrible position.

"You can't use kido even with the incantations, I think thats what one would call lame. The incantations greatly increase the effectiveness of a kido while also stabilizing your flow of energy into the technique which ensure a smoothly produced kido. Discarding the incantations is for when the user is in a tight spot and wishes to catch his opponent off guard to gain an advantage. There is no reason for me to need such advantage over someone like you." Junichi said with a superior smirk, his face and voice calm again.

He was now less then five meters away from her, and raised his hand with his palm flat, facing her.

"From this distance this kido would probably kill you with the incantation, so I'm gonna drop it for you." he said with a thin smile, "Hado 88 Hiryu-".

Before he could finish an umbrella blocked his view. He flinched in surprise and canceled the kido, lowering his hand. Shoji was standing behind him leaning his open umbrella on one of Junichi's shoulders and the blade of his zanpakto on the other.

"I can't let you do that." Shoji said in a cold quiet voice.

There was such an uncharacteristic menace in Shoji's voice that for a moment she didn't believe it was Shoji who spoke.

Shoji was the type of guy who takes whatever people say to him with little to no care. He received insults, threats, orders and even falls accusations without ever responding or defending himself. Whenever Kaya was arguing with someone he usually just looked at the ground and didn't say anything.

"Let her go, Hajime san." Shoji said in his usual toneless voice.

The restraining energy that held Kaya in place disappeared and Shoji took off his umbrella and replaced his zanpakto into it. The moment Shoji's blade left his shoulder, Junichi shook the sleeve of his right hand. In an instant the hilt of a zanpakto was in his left hand, ready to be drawn.

Kaya prepared to charge and so did Shoji, but someone else reached Junichi before any of them could move.

"Whoops" Said captain Ukitake, catching Junichi's zanpakto by its sheath before it could be drawn, "Your zanpakto almost slid out off your sleeve, I told you its a bad place to put it, Junichi kun.".

"Sensei!" Junichi blurted in surprise.

"What a mess!" Ukitake said, looking around, "Lucky no one was here to get hurt."

He smiled at Kaya and Shoji, putting a hand on Junichi's head.

"Its his fault!" Kaya yelled, pointing at Junichi.

"Filthy liar, it was you who attacked me." Junichi said, crossing his hands.

"Ah well if you guys wanna practice with each other just say, I can easily arrange it with Byakuya, just don't be doing it on the street." Ukitake said smiling kindly, "Oh and speaking of Byakuya." he lowered his voice and gave Kaya a meaningful look.

"I think you should hurry up to your squad, I walked by him on the way here and he didn't look like he was in a good mood. Not that he's ever in a good mood..." he gave her a wink and ruffled Junichi's hair.

"Lets go Junichi kun." he said.

Junichi made a sour face but followed his captain as he walked away.

"What a fucking, lying cocksucker." Kaya spat angrily after they left.

"You punched him first, you know..." Shoji said quietly.

"Yeah but he was the one who started by saying all this crap about you!" she said annoyed.

Shoji shrugged.

"Arrrg grow a pair Shoji..." Kaya said hopelessly.

"A pear?" he asked, looking at her in confusion.

"Never mind, I need to go. Before Byakuya will change from bad mood to snobbishly-ignoring-Kaya mood. See ya later Sho!".

She made her way to the 6th squad on the roofs and walls instead on the streets. She was growing tired of stupid idiots pointing at her or shuffling away from her as if she had something contagious. And anyway, it was faster then taking all the pointless turns. She knew Byakuya would be angry with her if he knew she had taken this faster rout, just like he didn't approve of her entering thru windows, but she didn't care. She was in a foul mood herself. She was tired and the sudden and untimely "malfunction" of her zanpakto caused her to preform miserably against Junichi. It was the first time she fought against him, and it wasn't very awe inspiring.

She heard from both Byakuya and Shoji that Junichi was the strongest of the candidates to captaincy and was eager to fight him to see what he's got.

_'And he didn't even use his zanpakto...'_ she thought bitterly.

"Oi Otori! You are in big troubles this time!" called a familiar voice.

Kaya stopped. Without realizing she had arrived at her squad. The one talking was Sakurai Ryo. He was carrying some boxes and looking at her with satisfied grin, his beanie sitting sloppily on his head, not entirely covering his shockingly green hair.

"Say what? You are the one who's gonna be in troubles if Byakuya will see you with that disaster you call a hair." she said eying Ryo.

He dropped the boxes and pulled his hat further down his head, pushing stray bangs of messy green into it.

"You just can't start the morning without blowing something up, can you?" he said wrinkling his nose.

"You can't blame me for the state of your hair. Maybe if you tried combing it once in a while..." she said.

"I'm not talking about that!" Ryo yelled angrily, "That explosion a while ago!".

"What explosion?" she asked innocently.

"Oh please! Half of soul society must have seen it! Captain Kuchiki looked like he was ready to kill someone, and by someone I mean you." he said exasperatedly.

"That... Wasn't me.." she said defensively.

"Yeah right." he snorted as he picked up the boxes he dropped, "And I have cherries growing in my hair.".

"Hey thats not entirely improbable!" she called after him as he started walking away with his boxes.

"Eat glass." he said without turning or stopping.

"Drop dead!" she called and made her way to Byakuya's office.

"I didn't do it!" she declared loudly as she entered the office.

Only Renji starred at her after that announcement. Byakuya just kept on going thru his paperwork.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Renji bellowed.

Kaya scanned her cloths and touched her face and hair, looking for blood or dirt.

"Err nothing?" she said after she didn't find anything.

"Do you even care that you are giving the squad bad name with your stupid mischiefs!" Renji yelled furiously pointing at her with his brush.

"Huh?" Kaya tilted her head in confusion.

"Don't you "huh?" me you idiot! By now everyone in the seireitei knows your name and how you look and more importantly which squad you're from! When you go around doing whatever you want like some street punk you are trashing the whole squad's reputation! Especially the captain's!" Renji growled, spitting from fury.

"Well at least I'm famous..." she said quietly, scratching her head.

"More like infamous!" Renji spat.

"Renji." Byakuya spoke for the first time, not looking up from his work "Leave the chastising to me.".

"Yeah Renji, in other words, take a hike." Kaya said grinning at Renji.

"Bu-But captain?!" Renji spluttered.

"Actually I think ill be taking a hike." Byakuya said, putting down his paperwork, "As will you." he added, giving Kaya a sharp look.

"You will?" Renji said in surprise at the same time Kaya said "We will?" equally surprised.

Without another word, the captain got up and Kaya had no choice but to follow him as he left the office.

"Where are we going?" she asked his back.

No answer. She didn't really expect him to answer. Sometimes when he was angry with her, he simply ignored her.

"Look it wasn't me. Really! I mean I was there, yeah... But I didn't cause that explosion! It was Junichi!" she said angrily.

"I know it wasn't you." Byakuya said quietly.

"Huh?" Kaya starred at him in confusion.

"As I find it hard to believe that you are capable of producing such a destructive kido, the only way it could have been you is if you used your zanpakto. But you can't use your shikai can you?" he said giving her a quick glance over his shoulder.

"What?! How did you know?" she asked in disbelief,  _'Damn him and his brain!'._

"Some techniques takes a great toll on the zanpakto, and using them renders the shikai unusable for a while. My guess is that the thunder storm you produced yesterday falls under that category. You should ask Renji about his Higa Zekko." he said.

"That's stupid... Why would anyone use something like that? Its like kicking so hard that your leg breaks." She grunted.

After getting no reply she frowned and quickened her pace so that she was walking next to her captain.

"So if you know it wasn't me... Why did you say you were going to chastise me?" She asked carefully.

Byakuya stopped walking after hearing those words. He stopped so suddenly that Kaya kept walking a few steps before realizing her companion has stopped. She looked questioningly at him and he returned an amazed frown. The expression of such a sincere bewilderment was so different from the usually cold and uncaring mask he displayed that Kaya was slightly taken aback.

"What?" she asked in alarm.

"I have long ago lost count of all your wrongdoings and have decided to chastise you whenever I think of a proper way to punish you." he said calmly looking down at her.

"Say what?!" She blurted starring at him in disbelief, "So basically what your saying is that from now on you are going to sporadically punish me whenever you feel like it?".

Byakuya looked down at her for a while before answering.

"I suppose you could say that..." he said carelessly and shrugged.

Kaya's head tilted automatically in surprise, her eyes wide, finding it difficult to digest that replay.

Failing to find anything smart to say, she straightened and frowned at him.

"Did you just shrug?" she asked absentmindedly.

Apart from making a small impatient "hmph" Byakuya ignored her and started walking again.

_'Asshole.'_  she thought grumpily and followed.

"Hey Byakuya! Is Junichi really that strong?" She asked after a while.

"What do you mean by "that strong"?" He asked uninterested.

"Jushiro was smiling stupidly as usual but he was slightly out of breath when he arrived and stopped mine and Junichi's fight. And you told me once that he is the closest to becoming a captain." she said thoughtfully.

Byakuya didn't answer but kept walking, frowning slightly.

"Byakuya?" Kaya said when he didn't reply.

"Stop calling me by my first name. I am your captain so you should address me as "Captain Kuchiki"." he said calmly.

"You are avoiding my question,  _captain_." she said without the faintest bit of respect.

"You want people to respect you but you don't respect those who deserve it." he replied.

"I'm... trying to... respect..." she said sourly and looked away.

"You are failing miserably."

They didn't say anything for a while. Kaya observed their surrounding and tried to figure out where they were going.

"So how about Shoji? Compared to the others?" She asked after she couldn't stand the silent anymore.

"If I had to rank him.." Byakuya said, sighing, "He would be somewhere between the strongest and the weakest.".

"Huh? That doesn't make sense!" she retorted annoyed.

"Akamaru Shoji is very talented and has a very sharp mind. However it seem that he didnt make much progress since he was picked as a candidate. He was definitely the strongest when they all started, but now..." Byakuya said thoughtfully.

"Maybe he needs a little motivation?" Kaya suggested.

"Motivation?"

"Yeah." she said giving him a shrewd look, "You know, when someone tells you "you can do it!" and gives you praise when you achieve something. Somehow I don't think Mayuri is a very supportive mentor... Reminds me of someone I know...".

"If you can't push yourself without someone to support you, maybe you are not up to the job." He said coldly.

"Then whats the point of this stupid mentoring if all you captains do is scratch your balls as we struggle to achieve results?!" she yelled angrily.

Byakuya opened his mouth to scold his insolent subordinate when someone called his name.

"Ahoy Byakuya! You really came! I thought for sure it was a joke!" Kyoraku Shunsui called and waved at them.

They both stopped, starring at the flashy captain making his way toward them. All around people were smiling faintly, probably used to their captain's loud presence, as now Kaya knew where they were. Squad 8 barracks.

"Don't be silly. Captain Kuchiki doesn't have a sense of humor." Kaya said, forcing herself to smile. She didn't like where this was going.

Byakuya eyed her warningly and she bit back another disrespectful comment. She knew that being rude would only lead her to more troubles.

"Where is Tadashi?" Byakuya inquired after seeing that Kyoraku was alone.

"She is in the training ground. I thought Ill make it a surprise for her." Kyoraku said with a wide smile.

"Of course... Go with captain Kyoraku and-" Byakuya said to Kaya but he was interrupted by Kyoraku who elbowed him playfully.

"What are you talking about Kuchiki? You are coming too! I've prepared a place for us to sit and dri- Ahh I mean watch our precious girls train!" Kyoraku said cheerfully and hooked his hand around Byakuya's arm and pulled him with him.

"I thought you abhor stupidity." Kaya hissed thru her teeth as she followed the two captains.

"It... Seemed like a good idea..." Byakuya said quietly, the look on his face clearly showing that he no longer thought it a "good idea".

* * *

"Captain Kyoraku! Captain Kuchiki!" Soga squealed in delight as she saw her captain coming back, accompanied by none other then the man of her dreams, Kuchiki Byakuya. Did her captain bring Byakuya to watch her train? Maybe after he saw her skills, the adorable noble would decide to ask Shunsui to switch apprentices with him. After so long he finally noticed her and-

"Hey bitch, I'm her too." said another, far less welcome, voice.

Behind the perfect figure of Kuchiki Byakuya, followed the damned shrimp who dared steal the dreamy man from Soga.

"You." Soga said in disgust, giving Kaya a very dirty look.

Kaya gave Soga an equally repulsed look and clenched her fists.

"Wow wow!" Kyoraku said hurriedly and let go of Byakuya so that he could stand behind his student, "Withdraw your claws girls! You will just be having a friendly spar!".

"You can only have a friendly spar with a friend." Kaya snarled, raising her fists.

For some reason Kyoraku gave Kaya a weird smile as he wrapped his hands around Soga, who blushed.

"So use this opportunity to make friends hmm?" he said and nudged Soga with his chin.

Soga said nothing but kept glaring at Kaya.

"Don't worry, if things get out of hands, there are two captains here to stop the fight before you get hurt too badly." Kaya heard Byakuya say quietly, so that his words could only be heard by her.

"Ha! You mean before she will get hurt too badly." Kaya said quietly as she stepped forward to face her opponent.

"I meant exactly what I said. Don't forget, you cant use your shikai." Byakuya said coldly as he stepped toward the place Kyoraku has prepared for them in the shadows of a plum tree.

Kaya gasped, remembering that her shikai was useless, as Kyoraku gave Soga a final squeeze and said quietly "Go easy on her, Soga chan.".

Soga and Kaya stood alone, looking at each other with loathing eyes, clearly each wishing the other a very painful death.

Soga moved first. She swung her zanpakto from over her shoulder, still in its scabbard, and charged at Kaya. She swiped the long weapon in a wide arc aiming at Kaya's head. Kaya ducked and sent a low kick at Soga's shins. To Kaya's surprise the kick was stopped by the hilt of the zanpakto which Soga slammed into the ground. Backing away from Kaya, Soga held the still sheathed zanpakto in a wide stance, like a spear.

It didn't seem like she was going to draw her blade at all.

_'Not my problem.'_ Kaya thought as she drew her wakizashi and held it with the tip pointing down. Then she moved. Closing the gap between them in an instant and attacking with the blade in her right hand.

Soga blocked with her weapon and pushed, forcing Kaya to jump back to keep her balance. A moment later Kaya had to jump and flip to narrowly avoid another swing of the zanpakto. Landing and crouching low, Kaya put her palms on the ground and kicked hard with both legs to stop the next powerful downward swing from the long weapon. The impact sent painful jolts thru Kaya's legs but it also gave her an opening. With her hands still on the ground, Kaya bended her knees and kicked again with all her might, pushing hard against the ground. She was satisfied to feel Soga's chin collide with her feet. Straightening up, she saw Soga sitting on the ground a few meters away, rubbing her chin.

"Damn shrimp." Soga grimaced.

"How long are you going to sit there and cry?" Kaya sneered, "If you are trying to earn some sympathy from Byakuya, I suggest you relinquish such foolish dreams." she added quietly.

"Don't get cocky! You think you are so good because Akamaru lets you play with him? Think again!" Soga bellowed and grabbed her fallen weapon.

She got up and thrust her weapon swiftly at Kaya. Kaya dodged by side stepping but had to dodge again as Soga kept relentlessly barraging her with quick thrusts. Rolling to the side Kaya hoped to use the opening that the thrusting movement created at the user's sides and punched at Soga's ear. However her fist never made contact. The hard hilt of Soga's zanpakto slammed into Kaya's stomach, sending all the air out of her lungs. Kaya fell painfully on her back, struggling to breath.

"How long are you going to sit there and cry?" came Soga's taunting voice.

Kaya jumped to her feet just as the sheathed weapon landed where her head was a second ago. The hit smashed the ground, sending pieces of rocks flying.

She had to jump again as a swing was aimed at her knees, and then duck quickly as another was aimed at her head. The third swing came from above. Kaya side stepped it and when it hit the ground stepped on the long weapon. The wakizashi in her left hand Kaya slashed at her opponent's face while balancing herself on the scabbard.

Soga backed away slightly, pulling her zanpakto. The sheath stayed in place as a few inches of the blade were drawn.

"Tear the ground below my feet, Haouryuu!" Soga called and released her zanpakto.

Kaya had to jump off the zanpakto, not only because of the ground that exploded where the weapon touched it, but also because the back of the blade became covered with sharp bone-like spikes.

"Tempenchii!" Soga called as she slammed the ground again with her zanpakto.

As Kaya landed, columns of rocks raised quickly from the ground near the zanpakto and all the way toward her. As she jumped to the side to avoid the raising earth, Soga hit the ground again, shattering it. Kaya moved quickly as the ground all around her shook and cracked.

"Oi Soga chan! Mind the lovely plum trees!" Kyoraku called and pointed at the trees along the wall that surrounded the training grounds. The cracks in the ground almost reached the trees.

"Sorry captain!" Soga called sweetly and lowered her weapon, halting the cracks advancement.

A shadow fell on Soga. She looked up and saw Kaya aiming a drop kick at her. She tried to raise her weapon to block, but wasn't fast enough. Kaya's hill hit Soga's head with crashing force, sending her face first to the ground.

"That was easy, who needs a shikai when there's plums." Kaya said boastfully.

Soga struggled shakily to her feet, leaning on her zanpakto.

"Iwaba Hakasho." she whispered and, grabbing the zanpakto with both hands, thrust the weapon into the ground.

The ground shook again and Kaya felt like they were raising. A wide platform separated from the ground and raised up, lifted by a huge pillar of rock. Now Kaya and Soga were standing on the raised platform of earth that towered about 100 meters above the ground.

Feeling something grabbing her hills, Kaya looked down and saw that the ground as tho melted and crawled around her shins, and hardened as it wrapped her feet making it impossible for her to move.

"Wha-" Kaya struggled against her bonds as a sharp pain pierced her chest, right in the middle.

The long spiked blade of Soga's zanpakto protruded from Kaya's body, the sword almost halfway buried in her chest.

Pain flooded Kaya's body as she gasped, every breath excruciating. Her body felt as tho it was split in half, the pain like a hot wire pressing against her skin. Blood raised in her throat and she tried to cough it out, but the agony was so unbearable that she had to spit it weakly.

"Oops, seem like I overestimated you. Oh well, I'm sure Byakuya wont be sorry to get rid of you." Soga's cocky voice vibrated slowly in Kaya's ears.

Kaya tightened her grip on the short zanpakto that was still in her hand as darkness covered her vision.

Soga watched gleefully as the body that was speared on her zanpakto went still and limp. She was slightly puzzled when it didn't drop, and that even the short zanpakto remained clutched in her hand.

And then she felt it.

For the second time, she felt such a malicious and ravenous reiatsu, so terrifying that cold sweat covered her body in an instant. Spiritual energy in the shape of blue lightnings surrounded Kaya's body. The short zanpakto changed into its released form as the dark blue gloves covered her hands completely.

"Ahhh... You cant even hold one day without me? And against that pathetic vermin." A tired, hoarse voice came from Kaya's mouth as she raised her right hand to the sword still stuck in her chest.

With a swift and effortless movement she broke the long sword, crushing the broken shards in her bare palm.

Soga staggered back, holding her broken zanpakto and, starring in horror as the thing in front of her opened its hand and let the tiny fragments that used to be the blade of her zanpakto fall to the ground. The girl then looked up at Soga, her eyes glowing red, her face twisted in a maniacal grin.

She lifted her left hand and, resting it on her right wrist, pointed with two fingers at Soga.

"And here I was thinking to take the day off." the girl croaked as a thin spike of highly compressed energy shot from the tips of her fingers, darting toward Soga.

"Funny, I was thinking the exact same thing." said a calm voice from behind her.

Not looking back, she watched as Kyoraku appeared a few meters away from where Soga was standing an instant ago, carrying said Soga in his arms.

The cold edge of a blade rested on her neck. All the crackling reiatsu that surrounded her a second ago was compressed into that deadly spike, leaving her exposed.

"You are just like Sakura, think you are so smart." she said and turned her head to the side, revealing one red eye to Byakuya.

As the words left her mouth, her eyelids closed slowly and then opened abruptly, her eyes green again.

Kaya touched her chest, oblivious to the blade resting on her neck, where she was wounded less then a minute ago. The skin was whole and uninjured altho there was a hole in her garments. She sighed and gave Byakuya a worried look after noticing his drawn weapon. His face remained blank as he removed his sword from her neck.

"What was  _that_?" Kyoraku asked in astonishment, starring at Kaya.

"Monster." Soga whispered, shivering in her captain's arms, "She's a monster.".

"It was..." Byakuya said slowly, clearly at lose for what to say.

"My split personality." Kaya said loudly.

"Your what?" Kyoraku asked in disbelief.

"I have a split personality. The other one is usually quiet, but he pops up when I'm about to die." Kaya said and glared at Soga who shrunk in fear. Despite her loud comments she was dead tired. Sweat was dripping gently from the sides of her face and her eyelids felt heavy.

They all stood there in silent, except for Soga's occasional whimper.

"I think we should leave." Byakuya broke the silence.

Kyoraku gave Byakuya a disappointed look but nodded. He looked back to Kaya with a faint smile.

"Yeah well, see ya." She said hurriedly and flash stepped away.

The captain of squad 6 grunted impatiently and flesh stepped after her.

* * *

_The sickening sound of snapping bone echoed in the small room._

_"Seems this one doesn't know either..." he said disapointedly, releasing the man's head which he just twisted._

_The man fell to the floor with a thud, his disfigured body sprawled awkwardly on the ground._

_"As the fallen cover the ground, the heaven tears unbound._

_Singing chorus of despair, for deft ears left unaware._

_The end is sweet, mourn the living._

_Death welcomes all, but life is unforgiving." he chanted quietly._

_Kaya eyed the dead man, feeling revulsion raise in her stomach. She swallowed, unable to take her eyes off the mangled body._

_A sharp slap broke her trance._

_"What's with that face?" he growled and slapped her again, "We're doing this because of you. If you are going to space out when we find this Oni Koshiro bastard, then I'm not gonna waste my time. If you can't kill him then all of this is fucking pointless!"._

_He spat angrily and turned away from her, kicking the lifeless body. The head smashed with a disgusting wet noise against the stone wall, leaving a trail of blood as it slid to the floor._

_"I can kill Koshiro!" she exclaimed._

_He looked back at her over his shoulder with disdain, his red eyes locking on her green ones._

_"You cant kill anything." he hissed and stepped on the dead man's head, "You get cold feet just from looking at me killing someone."._

_"That's because you are... Not just killing them... You... You do horrible things to them before you finish them off..." She muttered, struggling to find words._

_His glare burned her eyes, but she dared not look away. She could sense his temper raising, like an angry snake, hissing and spitting in warning._

_"I see..." he said quietly kneeling on one leg in front of her, "So you think I should just ask them nicely? Invite them for a drink and request the location of their boss? Maybe I should just ask if they could arrange an apointment for me?"._

_"N-no.." She said weakly, her body starting to shake._

_"Then what, my dear brat, will you have me do?" He hissed, placing a hand on the back of her head and pulling her close so that their foreheads touched._

_"I... I don't... I don't know..." she stammered._

_With a swift movement he straightened up and, raising his leg, bashed her face against his knee. The force of the hit knocked her back against the wall. She moaned in pain and doubled over, clutching her bleeding face._

_"These fuckers hit you and used you for their enjoyment. They made your life a living nightmare. Now that you are stronger then them, you should do the same to them. Why should they die quickly? Don't you want to hurt them? Don't you want to see them squirming in pain? Don't you want to hear them pleading for mercy? They are weak trash with less then zero spiritual power. They have no right to exist anymore. Their only purpose is to serve as your stepping stones." he said and tilted her head back by the hair so that she was looking at him._

_She winced, expecting another blow, but he cupped her cheek gently and leaned in to lick the blood on her face._

_"You are forgetting..." He whispered, his tongue leaving a trail on her nose "That you are not the prey anymore..."._

_He licked her blood hungrily, breathing heavily. His other hand traveled absentmindedly to her neck._

_"You are the predator..." He muttered, squeezing her neck slightly._

_"You must kill those who are weaker then you to survive..."..._

"Stop." A voice called as a hand closed on her shoulder.

"No!" she cried out in alarm, shaking the hand off and trying to get away from her pursuer.

"I said stop!" He said angrily as Kaya felt his hand close on her neck this time.

"Don't!" she protested, almost hysterically.

In front of her stood Byakuya, withdrawing his hand from her neck, looking almost as alarmed as her.

"Byakuya..?" She sighed in relief, her body relaxing.

She was not in the rukongai. She was not with  _him_. She was only day-dreaming. More like day-nightmaring...

It seemed like she blacked out for a minute during the fight with Soga, because she didn't remember what happened after she got stabbed and the next thing she did remember was a dull pain in her chest and Byakuya's blade on her neck. She felt drained, as tho she has been thru a whole week of exhausting training with little or no sleep.

"Who did you think it was?" Byakuya asked impatiently.

She staggered, shaking her head to clear her vision, and blinked tiredly at Byakuya.

"Nobody..." She mumbled, fighting to keep her eyes from closing, "What happened... Back there..?".

"I was hoping you would tell me..." He said, frowning.

"I...I..." She mumbled, clutching her head.

A wave of exhaustion washed over her. Her knees gave in and she collapsed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hado 6 Kaze o Saku does not exist. I made it up. Kaze o Saku means "wind splitting".
> 
> Higa Zekko means "Bite of a Broken Baboon's Fang".
> 
> Iwaba means "rocky area" or "rock wall".
> 
> Hakasho means "graveyard".
> 
> Iwaba Hakasho will mean "rocky graveyard" for my story. Its one of Haouryuu's special earth abilities. It raises a plateau at the designated area, and allowing the user a certain amount of control over the raised soil.
> 
> Note about Kaya's eating habits:
> 
> As Kaya has very limited financial resources which goes mostly to the rent, she ends up buying leftovers of cheap snacks that are expired and cannot be sold. The shopkeepers sell those leftovers "under the table" in a price that even Kaya can afford. Unfortunately, those snacks are less then healthy even before they expire, resulting in a very poor nourishment for the energetic Kaya.
> 
> ^Sorry for the jabbering, just a little tidbit about Kaya^


	18. Dubious dealings at dusk

"Hey over here! You overgrown pinhead..." Junichi called, muttering the last three words quietly.

He waved at the tall candidate who entered the bar and looked around, searching the ones he was supposed to meet.

Shigure Hayate made his way toward the table at the corner in which set Junichi and Soga, already sipping their drinks.

"You could have waited for me.." Shigure said grumpily.

"You could have showed up in time, Hayate." Junichi snapped back.

Shigure chowed his lip and didn't reply. He looked at Soga who was uncharacteristically quiet. She looked deep in thought.

"Tadashi san?" he said, giving her a concerned look.

"What took you so long?" She asked impatiently.

"I had to do something for captain Komamura..." Shigure said apologetically.

"Whatever... We are here to talk about a very annoying problem." Junichi said.

"Otori..." Soga hissed angrily.

"Exactly." Junichi nodded in agreement, "She has to go.".

"Go?" Shigure asked.

"Disappear." Junichi said sharply.

Shigure gave Junichi a confused look.

"Retire." Junichi said short temperately.

"I'm.." Shigure mumbled hesitantly.

"Die, you idiot!" Junichi snarled.

Shigure frowned but didn't say anything.

"It's not going to be that easy.." Soga said quietly.

"Why not?" Junichi sneered "I had a brief fight with her today. She is trash, nothing but talk.".

"She has some... Hidden power... When we fought today..." Soga mused.

"I thought I felt something from your squad today!" Shigure said suddenly.

"I also felt something... Something familiar happened a few weeks ago, and yesterday when the tower near the senzaikyu got pulverized..." Junichi said, eying Soga "But it didn't feel anything like Otori...".

"Its her." Soga persisted, "I was there. Three weeks ago, and today. That bitch can somehow change her reiatsu..." she shivered.

"But that's impossible." Shigure said.

"I told you, I was there!" Soga said angrily.

She leaned close to the table and motioned them to do the same.

"I stabbed her, right in the middle of the chest. For a second it seemed like she passed out or died but then, something happened. Her reiatsu changed, it became much stronger and... Scarier..".

"Wha-" Shigure started, looking worried at the frightened look on Soga's face.

"Shh." Junichi hissed at him, not taking his eyes off Soga.

"And then she just broke Haouryuu! In its released earth form! With her bare hand!" Soga shrieked angrily.

Junichi let out a snore and starred at Soga with disbelief. Soga's zanpakto had the unique ability to change its released form and element. Soga was most adept at using the earth form, meaning that it was her most powerful weapon. A weak trash like Otori couldn't possibly brake its blade with bare hands...

"And that's not all!" Soga continued, "Her wound closed immediately!".

"What?" Shigure exclaimed again.

"Are you sure you weren't day-dreaming?" Junichi asked in a waspish tone.

Soga looked at him angrily and drew her zanpakto, making them both flinch in surprise. She placed it on the table with a bang so that both of them could see its broken blade, less then half of it still intact.

"Are you sure Kuchiki didn't break it?" Junichi asked slowly, his fingers carefully examining the broken zanpakto, "Kuchiki was there I assume, he is never too far away from Otori. When he saw you impaling his dear protege he might have got angry... Ukitake sensei say that Kuchiki cares a lot about that little bastard...".

"Oh please Hajime, your sensei needs to get his brain ventilated... When was the lest time he took a stroll outside?" Soga snorted, sitting up straight, "Have you ever seen them together? They always argue and snipe at each other... They try to kill each other at least once every three days... Beside, Byakuya could never like someone like that dirty bitch...".

"I think someone's jealous..." Junichi smirked.

"Fuck you, asshole." Soga hissed.

"Aww someone's cranky today." Junichi continued his smirking.

"Hajime san, please stop it." Shigure said, looking at Junichi sternly.

"Fine... I think that regardless of the supposed secret love that exist, or not, between these two it will be wise to get Otori away from Kuchiki if we want to... Get rid of her..." Junichi said in a business-like tone.

"Are we going to gang up on her again?" Shigure asked, frowning. He did not approve of such unfair tactics and actually felt kind of guilty after that first encounter.

"If Tadashi is right, and that girl have some secret power, we will have to make sure to finish the job in one go. It wouldn't do if she walks away after we killed her..." Junichi said coldly.

"Is that really necessary?" Shigure asked weakly.

Both Soga and Junichi gave him dark looks.

"Okay, Ill make it simple for you. How many available captain positions are there right now?" Junichi said waspishly, eying Shigure menacingly.

"Three?" Shigure said.

"That's right, and how many candidates are there right now?" Junichi continued.

"Well there are the three of us and Akamaru san... And Kohaku san..." Shigure started counting.

"There are six of us." Junichi cut him impatiently, " _Six._  Do you understand what that means?".

Shigure looked at Junichi worriedly and shook his head slowly.

"It means three of us will not be making it to captaincy." Soga sighed before Junichi could give his angry retort.

"Oh... Right..." Shigure said lowering his eyes.

"The more there are of you, the less chances you have of making a captain..." Junichi said, leaning back in his chair and stretching.

"You are not including yourself in that statement..." Shigure said slowly.

"Nope. There could be hundred of you and it wouldn't make a difference for me..." Junichi said loftily.

They were quiet for a minute. Each in his own mind.

"Well we will tell you when we think of a plan..." Junichi said in a tone that clearly meant its time for Shigure to leave, "In the meantime... I think it would be wise if we are not seen together too often...".

"Right..." Shigure said and stood up, "Good night, Tadashi san, Hajime san.".

As he left, Junichi looked after him with a sneer.

"How did an idiot like that made it to the candidates?" Junichi asked with disdain.

"If Otori made it... You don't have to be that smart to get the job..." Soga said.

"Bah..." Junichi said bitterly, "And I used to think it would be me, you and Akamaru...".

"Guess you were wrong. Embarrassed? That you made such a humane mistake?". Soga asked grinning at him.

"I" Junichi shot at her "Do not make mistakes.".

"You are so full of yourself... Lucky for you, you also look good." She replied drily.

"Lucky for me? Lucky for you, you mean? Where are you sleeping tonight by the way?" Junichi asked offhandedly.

"My place..." She said and got up to leave.

"Alone?" he asked pointedly.

"Yes. Wanna join?" She asked, smiling seductively over her shoulder at him.

"Yeah, why not?" He said, also smiling, "Just make sure you wash the hidden place.".

"I always do, you asshole." She replied, still smiling and left the bar.

She made her way home as she noticed a familiar reiatsu nearing her. She didn't dare believe it was him until she saw his silhouette walking toward her in the darkening street.

"Captain Kuchiki!" She exclaimed, her hurt jumping.

"I have a request." Byakuya said without any kind of greeting.

Soga's heart leaped to her throat, beating painfully in excitement as the charming man in front of her looked around, as if checking for eavesdroppers.

"Of course, captain Kuchiki." She said in delight.

_'Screw you Hajime, I'm taking a Kuchiki home tonight!'_ she thought. It was the first time that the engaging captain had actually come to speak to her. He was probably taken by her charm today when he saved her from his beastly protege. So he came looking for her at this late hour, to...

"Stay away from my disciple." Came his monotonous voice, scooping Soga from her daydreaming.

"W-What?" She stammered.

"Do not challenge her. Do not speak to her. Do not even look at her. Am I making myself clear?" He said eying her.

"I-I.. W... Bu-" Soga blurted incoherently, almost melting from the intensity of his gaze.

"I trust you can deliver this message to the others?" He said coldly, and without waiting for a reply, walked away.

* * *

"Captain Kuchiki." Unohana said and smiled at her junior colleague.

"Captain Unohana, I appreciate you finding some time to meet me." Byakuya said honorably.

"Of course. If I could guess, I'd say that your visit today has something to do with Kaya?" Unohana asked.

"You would guess correctly." Byakuya said blankly.

Unohana didn't say anything but smiled gently at him, indicating that he should go on.

"You know her better then anyone else and if there is a person in this world that she actually respects, its you." He said slowly.

They were silent for a minute, in which Byakuya searched the elder captain for some kind of reaction.

"You are not saying anything.." he said.

"You didn't ask anything." she said and sipped her tea.

"I wonder if my assumptions are true." he said, also taking a sip.

"I certainly know her longer then most in the seireitei, but I wouldn't say that I know her the best. As for our relationship... Its based on trust. Gaining her confidence wasn't easy at all." she said.

"So how did you get it?" he sighed, "And why? If it was a such difficult task, why waste your time? I'm sure that an expedition to the 80th rukongai is not something you do every day.".

"I felt sorry for her, a small child in the cruel blood stained rukongai..." she trailed off.

"I am sure that there are a lot of poor souls in the rukongai, yet this is the first time you rescued one of them. You must have seen something different about her." He said questioningly.

"It seem like you are getting closer to what you actually wanted to ask me." Unohana said and smiled "You can ask me whatever you wish, I shell not tell Kaya about this conversation. I can't promise however that Ill be able to answer.".

"The girl have some hidden powers." Byakuya said, skipping straight to his real question, "Like a reiatsu that belongs to someone else. Her zanpakto is a strange one, it is capable of doing things no other zanpakto can. Sometimes... Sometimes it seems like she is being possessed by some madness... And her eyes turn red. Do you know something about that?".

Unohana looked at him for a long time before answering.

"When Kaya was in the academy, almost every other day she and some other students were sent to my squad for medical treatment. Her teachers said that not a day passed without her getting into a brawl. The strange thing was that it was always her against more then one person, but even more peculiar then that is the fact that while the other students were in bad shape, sometimes even life threatening state, Kaya never needed any medical attention. You could see from the state of her cloths that she did not escape any damage, but it seem that by the time she arrived at my squad, all her injuries were almost or completely healed.".

"That is... Interesting... But I already noticed that she heals faster then most people..." Byakuya said, slightly disappointed, "You said that you are not the one who knows her best. Do you know who might be the one?".

"I have a guess... But its nothing but that, so I do not wish to discuss it." Unohana said slowly.

"Do you think she has anything to do with that Niiro Ashura?" he asked bluntly.

"I think... That you should ask Kaya about that..." she said gently.

Byakuya sighed and leaned back in his chair. A faint prickling sensation in the back of his head, a sign from a bakudo he preformed earlier, told him that the brat was awake at last.

"I intend to ask... But not her..." Byakuya said, drinking the remains of his tea and getting up.

"Thank you captain Unohana." he said and turned to leave.

"Captain Kuchiki." Unohana called when he was almost at the door, "There is a lot more to Kaya then what is on the surface. You might have to excavate in order to find the hidden treasure you seek, but be careful not damage the den in which lays the treasure.".

* * *

He entered the tiny dirty room thru the window. He did not like committing such unseemly deed but he did not want anyone to see him here, especially during such a late hour. Awkward questions could be raised.

One quick look told him that she was not there. As the door to the bathroom was closed he assumed that she was taking a shower.

As he waited for her to finish he strolled around the dark room, trying not to chock from the foul smell that carried in from a nearby pub. On the floor near the cabinet was an empty pack of some sort of snack. The drawer was open so he had a look inside.

It was full of snacks and sweets and many things that people could eat, but hardly consider food. There was a small trash bin near the cabinet full of empty bags of sweets and snacks.

_'Is that all she eats? No wonder she looks like that...'_ he mused, picking the empty bag of the floor and noticing, before putting it in the bin, that the expiration date was more then a month ago.

Just when he thought that he couldn't take the terrible smell anymore, and considered buying the offending bar just so he could shut it down, the bathroom door snapped open. A small figure jumped at him, carrying a very short katana. Instinctively he grabbed the hand holding the wakizashi, and using the girl's momentum from the ferocious jump, slammed her into the wall, pinning both her hands above her head.

"Byakuya?" the girl exclaimed in surprise as the light from the bathroom lit his face.

"Who did..." He started to reply as he noticed that the only thing that covered her skinny body was a not-so-clean towel.

"You are starring again." She pointed out.

"No I am not." Byakuya said blankly.

Just as these words left his mouth the towel slipped off her and fell to the floor. Byakuya felt the tips of his ears growing hot, but more importantly a very different part of him growing hard.

He averted his eyes from her, which despite his protests were indeed starring at her naked form. Again he was shocked to see the poor state of her body. And again he was surprised that, aside from the infinitesimal protrusion of her breast, the only indication that the person in front of him was indeed a female was the absence of a certain member that awkwardly enough was causing him a great deal of discomfort at the moment.

"Are you going to take off your cloths? Cause if not, Ill be happy if you release me." She said, grinning as his face grew hot.

Byakuya closed his eyes and gave himself a mental slap. What was he thinking? He didn't have the slightest bit of affection toward the annoying brat, who knocked his peacefully mundane life off its dull and careless course.

"Let go of your zanpakto." He said after he felt his face and ears cooling down.

"I am being pressed, naked, against a wall by a horny old bastard. I think Ill keep my zanpakto." She said boldly, glaring up at him.

_'Did she just call me...?'_ he thought furiously.

"Then I am afraid that we have a problem." he said quietly, returning a glare which held but a friction of his wrath.

"No. You have a problem." she said and without warning, kicked him with both legs.

Had he not release her hand (the one without the zanpakto of course) and blocked her kick he might have lost the ability to reproduce. His forearm protested painfully from the impact, but he didn't want to imagine how much pain he would have been in had her legs reached their intended destination. With a swift movement he caught one of her legs and with his other hand caught her free hand which aimed a punch at his ear. Before she could think to use her now free zanpakto-holding hand, he lifted her, quiet effortlessly and slammed her into the floor, knocking the air out of her lungs.

He caught her wrists again, but other then that tried not to lean on her too much in order to prevent even more embarrassment to himself. The result was that her legs were free and somehow she managed to fold one of them to her chest and send another kick, this time at his face. He managed to sway a little to the side and dodge the kick, but ended up with her leg over his arm and his face, too close for comfort to her intimate area.

"Stop!" He said angrily, closing his eyes but not daring to release the grip on her wrists.

"No!" She exclaimed, struggling to get away from him, "I told you, I'm not gonna be the subject of your sexual frustration!".

"What?" He blurted, his eyes opening abruptly, starring at her in amazement, "Alright this stupidity ends right now. I don't like you. I don't find you attractive. I don't have any wish to take you to my bed, and even if by some sort of insanity I did, I assure you that any protest on your behalf would have been meaningless. I am going to release you now and you will put away your zanpakto and go put some cloths on you. You are not going to argue and you will do exactly as I say.".

He fixed his gray eyes on hers, waiting for a response. She said nothing and kept glaring up at him, tightening the grip on her weapon.

"I am not going to do anything of sexual nature to you. I promise." He said gently and slightly loosened his grip on her.

"Why not?" She ask abruptly.

"What?" He exclaimed, taken aback by her straight-forwardness.

"Yoruichi said that since your wife died, fifty years ago, you probably didn't take any lover. She explained the hormones thing, and how you are probably nose deep in sexual frustration. I don't know anything about sex except what goes where..." She said offhandedly.

"That is none of Yoruichi's business." he said, averting his eyes from her, "She had no right to tell you something like that.".

Now everything made sense... Yoruichi...

Anger flooded him. Damn Yoruichi, giving that brat stupid ideas. He felt exposed and vulnerable, as tho the brat could open his heart and see all of his pain... His frustration...

And oh he was frustrated. As much as he may deny, his needs were starting to catch up to him. Needs that he neglected for so long...

"She's worried about you..." the girl said quietly.

He heard a chink of metal and looked up to see that she let go off her zanpakto. He released her wrists and got off her, turning his back to her.

"No, she is just trying to make my life miserable." he replied coldly.

"The one who's making your life miserable is you, and you're doing a fantastic job." she said pointedly.

"Watch you're mouth, brat." he snapped angrily, "My personal life is none of your affairs.".

"What personal life? You don't have such a thing. Your whole life is being a shinigami. Unless you and Renji are having a secret affair, I'm sorry to inform you, my dear captain, that your life outside work does not exist.".

"Dress up." he said suddenly. He came here to do something, and that brat's babbling was starting to distract him from that task.

"Oh sure, change the subject just when I hit jackpot." She said grumpily

"Now."

"Emm yeah... There is a problem.." he heard her get up at walk to the cabinet.

"A problem?" he repeated, noticing a pile of black garments near the bathroom's door. Her shihakusho.

"I can wear the kimono I borrowed from Rukia for now but... Well... All my uniforms are trashed... I'm gonna need some new ones." she said sheepishly.

"You can wear this for now." He said, throwing her the uniform he picked up from the floor. It had a hole on the middle but that was irrelevant... Actually it might work for his advantage...

"But its torn..?" She protested.

"Just wear it." he said warningly.

He took a deep breath, bracing himself for what he was about to do. If his theory was in error... His rising temper pushed that concern aside.

He took a glanced over his shoulder after a minute and saw that she was almost done dressing up. Her back turned to him. He made sure that the reiatsu blocking bakudo he placed on her room was still working...

"Do you trust me?" He asked before he could stop himself, remembering what Unohana said..

" _..be careful not damage the den in which lays the treasure"..._

_"I think you should be more careful from the monster that sleeps in that den."_ Senbonzakura said.

"Hmm that's a tricky one..." She said in mock thoughtfulness, "To be perfectly blunt, no.".

Before she could turn around he was behind her, his sword in his hand, holding her with his arm around her neck.

"Then there is no need for me to apologize." he said quietly and swiftly slipped his blade into her back, burring it almost to the hilt.

She gasped in surprise and pain and clutched his hand with both of hers, frantically trying to pull it off her throat. He held tightly, pinning her to him and pushing his zanpakto further in.

She chocked and gagged as blood spilled from her lips, trying desperately to break free, her breaths coming in short rattling gasps.

He closed his eyes, feeling sick about what he was doing. After a minute her trashing was lessening, he felt her limbs growing weaker... What if he was wrong?

Just as guilt was starting to take over him he finally felt it. Waves of wild reiatsu radiated from her, like gales of wind. The sensation of the vile spiritual energy from such close proximity was unnerving. It was like starring right into the mouth of a large, monstrous and starving beast.

Weak bolts of lightning crackled around them, sending faint prickling along his skin. One of her hands gripped the blade that was protruding from her chest. A low groan left her mouth as blood spilled from her palm, but she didn't release the blade.

"You will not break my blade as easily as you broke Tadashi's." He said quietly, masking the great relief he felt.

No answer. Another groan as the girl raised her other hand in the direction of her zanpakto, which laid on the floor few meters away from them. Her palm closed, as tho to grasp the weapon, but it was too far away.

"Shit..." An angry hiss came from her as she spat some more blood.

"Hiraishin." Byakuya said loudly.

No answer again. The crackling electricity around them intensified for a moment and she gripped his blade with both hands, trying desperately to break it. A moment later the lightnings were almost gone, occasionally a single bolt surged around them. Her body relaxed and she leaned against him, panting heavily.

"What?" She asked in a low growl, her voice slightly, yet unmistakeably, different.

"Who are you?" Byakuya asked, not daring to lessen his hold on her.

"You said my name, you know who I am." She, or rather he,hissed angrily.

The change in the voice, as well as the manner of speaking, assured Byakuya that it was indeed not the brat he was speaking to.

"Can she hear our conversation?" he asked.

"Who Kaya?" Hiraishin snorted in disgust, "No, she is too busy being dead right now. You just killed her, remember?".

Byakuya felt his heart missing a beat. He didn't say anything, unable to find his voice. Something like icy water slid down his throat, freezing his stomach and his intestines.

_"He is lying! She is not dead yet, master!"_ Senbonzakura called, responding to his master's sudden agony.

"Ahh screw you, Sakura..." Hiraishin grunted, "If you won't release me, she will be dead soon.".

"You can hear my zanpakto?" Byakuya asked in surprise when his heart finally went back to its place.

"Obviously..." Hiraishin replied in a bored tone, "I can do so many extraordinary things and you are surprised by  _that?"_

"How can you do all those "extraordinary things"?" Byakuya asked.

"That's because I'm extraordinary myself." Hiraishin declared boastfully.

Byakuya twisted his blade slightly, getting indecent pleasure as the arrogant tone changed into panic.

"Don't!" Hiraishin cried in alarm, coughing blood, "I...gahh...I'm... Over the limit... kahhh...".

"I didn't know you had limits." Byakuya said quietly.

"Kaya..." Hiraishin spat angrily, "Her body... Has limits." he coughed more blood, "She is, gahh.. Such a frail vessel... Wretched mongrel...".

"It seems that you resent her, yet you guard her life with such determination..." Byakuya mused.

"If she dies... I will cease to exist... I have to protect her... gahh.. Until..." Hiraishin's voice was growing weaker and weaker.

"Until what?" Byakuya inquired, twisting the blade ever so slightly.

"Ahhh! Stop! Ill tell you! We will talk again, after I recover... I like you, you seem serene on the surface but underneath you are ruthless... Just don't try doing this again... Can't promise Ill be able to save her before I regain my strength..." Hiraishin whispered between heavy breaths.

"How will I know that you have recovered?".

"Oh... Don't worry... Ill give you a sign... Haha..".

"Don't. I have enough troubles without you decimating buildings or trying to kill peoples.".

"Hm.. Your troubles... Are just beginning... Misery befalls... He who with demons strolls...". A painful elbow in Byakuya's side surprised him and he backed away clutching his aching side, withdrawing his blade from the girl's body.

"Wait!" he gasped, struggling to catch his breath, "What do you have to do with Niiro Ashura?".

The short figure turned around, fixing its red eyes on Byakuya's.

"Everything...".


End file.
